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MEN  OF 

THE  BIBLE. 

Under  an  arrangement  with  the  English  pub- 
lishers, Messrs.  A.  D.  F.  Randolph  &  Co. 
will  issue  a  series  of  volumes  by  distinguished 
scholars,  on 

THE   MEN   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

ABRAHAM  :    HIS    LIFE  AND    TIMES.     By  the 
Rev.  W.  J.  Deane,  M.A. 

MOSES  :   HIS   LIFE  AND   TIMES.     By  the  Rev. 
Canon  G,  Rawlinson,  M.A. 

SOLOMON  :  HIS  LIFE  AND  TIMES.    By  the  Ven. 
Archdeacon  Farrar,  D.D. 

ELIJAH  :   HIS  LIFE  AND  TIMES.     By  the  Rev. 
Professor  W.  Milligan,  D.D. 

IN    PREPARATION. 
GIDEON  :  HIS  LIFE  AND  TIMES.     By  the  Rev. 
J.  M.  Lang,  D.D. 

ISAIAH  :   HIS  LIFE  AND  TIMES.     By  the  Rev. 
Canon  S.  R.  Driver,  M.A. 

JEREMIAH:    HIS    LIFE  AND  TIMES.     By  the 
Rev.  Canon  T.  K.  Cheyne,  M.A. 

JESUS  THE  CHRIST  :  HIS  LIFE  AND  TIMES. 
By  the  Rev.  F.  J.  Vallings,  M.A. 

To  the  siude7it  and  the  gefteral  reader  these 
volumes  will  be  fomtd  alike  usefui  ajid  inter- 
esting, and  the  question  77iay  well  be  asked,  why 
the  intelligent  reader  should  not  find  the  lives 
of  the  great  ineji  of  the  Bible  as  useful  or  as 
fasci?mting  as  the  story  of  those  who  have  won 
a  cofispicuous  place  i7i  the  a7inals  of  secular 
history.  And  yet  how  i7tdiffere7it  thousa7ids  of 
cultivated  persons  are  to  these  lives,  save  07ily 
as  they  are  recorded  iti  outline  iii  the  Holy 
Scriptures.     Price,  $i.oo  each. 

*;!:*  Se7it  by  7nail  07t  receipt  of  price, 

ANSON  D.  F.  RANDOLPH  &  COMPANY, 

38   WEST   TWENTY-THIRD   STREET,    N.   Y. 


MOSES: 


HIS    LIFE   AND   TIAIES 


GEORGE    RAWLINSON,   M.A. 

CAMDEN    PROFESSOR   OF    ANCIENT    HISTORY    IN    THE   UNIVERSITY    OF   OXFORD, 

AND   COKRESPONUING    M.:;MBER   OF    THE    ROYAL   ACADEMY    OF   TURIN; 

AUTHOR   OF    "the    FIVE   GREAT    MONARCHIES   OF    THE    ANCIENT 

EASTERN    WORLD,  '    ETC.    ETC. 


NEW  YORK 

ANSON    D.    F.    RANDOLPH    &    COMPANY 

38  West  Twenty-third  Street 


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PREFACE. 


The  materials  for  a  life  of  Moses  are  found  chiefly  in  the  four 
later  Books  of  the  Pentateuch.  The  New  Testament  also  con- 
tributes some  valuable  notices,  especially  Acts  vii.  and  Hebrews 
xi.  Next  to  them  in  value,  but  next  at  an  interval  that  is  scarcely 
measurable,  come  the  accounts  given  by  Josephus  and  Philo. 
Moses  is  the  hero  of  Josephus's  Second,  Third,  and  Fourth  Books, 
which  present  to  us  the  circumstances  of  his  life  with  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  detail,  but  do  not  add  very  much  to  the 
scriptural  narrative,  except  at  the  two  extremes  of- Moses' 
career,  his  early  years  and  his  decease.  Different  estimates 
may  be  formed  of  the  degree  of  credit  to  be  attached  to 
these  portions  of  Josephus's  history,  and  it  requires,  beyond  a: 
doubt,  much  critical  acumen  to  deal  with  them  properly,  neither 
accepting  nor  rejecting  them  en  bloc.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  the  notices  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  Philo.  Philo 
has  left  us  a  work  entitled,  "  The  Life  of  Moses  "  (mpt  Bi'oy 
Mw(T£we),  which  contains  interesting  accounts  of  his  education 
and  personal  appearance  ;  and  in  several  of  his  other  treatises 
he  gives  estimates  of  Moses'  character  and  abilities.  A  passage 
of  Artapanus,  preserved  by  Eusebius,  is  entitled  to  consideration. 
Many  legends  have  clustered  round  the  name  of  IVIoses,  some 
Jewish,  others  Mahometan  ;  but  these  are  almost  wholly  worth- 
less, and  throughout  the  following  pages,  excepting  in  a  single 
instance,  no  notice  has  been  taken  of  them.  The  writer's  strong 
conviction  has  been  that  it  is  from  Scripture,  almost  entirely,  if 
not  entirely,  that  we  must  learn  the  facts  of  Moses'  life,  and 
deduce  our  estimate  of  his  character.  He  believes  that  in  the 
four  later  Books  of  the  Pentateuch  we  have  an  actual,  though 
not  an  intentional,  autobiography.  Without  going  the  length 
of  saying  that  the  whole  of  Deuteronomy  is  the  composition  of 
Moses,  he  regards  it  as  a  faithful  report  of  discourses  held  by 
Moses  during  the  later  portion  of  his  life,  collected  after  his 


IV  PREFACE. 

death  by  Joshua  or  Eleazar  into  a  volume.  And  he  has  not 
the  slightest  doubt  that  Exodus,  Leviticus,  and  Numbers,  were 
written,  almost  as  we  have  them,  by  IMoses  himself.  Moses  is 
thus  portrayed  to  us  by  his  own  hand  in  these  three  Books,  and 
in  Deuteronomy  by  the  hand  of  a  contemporary  ;  and  the  truth 
concerning  him  is  best  arrived  at  by  a  close  scrutiny  of  the 
scriptural  narrative. 

Materials  for  a  description  of  the  *'  times  "  of  Moses  exist 
now  in  enormous  quantities  through  the  interpretation  of  the 
hieroglyphic  inscriptions,  and  of  the  other  native  Egyptian 
documerits.  They  are  contained  in  the  works  of  Lepsius, 
Wilkinson,  Rosellini,  Mariette,  Brugsch,  Birch,  Chabas,  Stuart 
Poole,  and  others.  The  difficulty  here  has  been  that  of  selection. 
In  a  work  limited  to  two  hundred  pages,  the  author  found  it 
necessary  to  contract  within  a  painfully  narrow  space  his  notices 
of  the  contemporary  history  of  the  manners,  customs,  and  re- 
ligion of  Egypt  ;  while  of  the  grand  buildings  executed  by  the 
Egyptian  monarchs,  amongst  which  Moses  was  brought  up,  he 
could  only  allow  himself  the  briefest  and  most  general  de- 
scription. Similarly,  with  respect  to  Moses'  life  in  the  wilderness, 
and  to  the  geographical  problems  involved  in  the  wanderings, 
he  found  it  impossible  within  the  limits  assigned  him  to  enter 
into  details,  or  to  attempt  more  than  some  general  portraiture 
of  the  Sinaitic  region,  and  the  life  of  its  ancient  inhabitants. 
For  this  portion  of  his  essay  he  is  largely  indebted  to  the 
labours  of  Stanley,  Trislram,  Robinson,  Trumbull,  Porter,  and 
the  travellers  whose  works  have  been  published  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund.  Recent  com- 
mentaries, as  the  "  Speaker's,"  the  "  Pulpit  Commentary,"  and 
that  sanctioned  by  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester  and  Bristol,  have 
also  been  laid  under  contribution,  and  have  afforded  valuable 
aid.  Among  general  histories  of  the  time,  he  has  derived  the 
greatest  assistance  from  the  late  Dean  Stanley's  "  History  of 
the  Jewish  Church,"  which,  though  not  faultless,  is  a  work  of 
sterling  merit.  Ewald's  History  seems  to  him  far  inferior  ;  and 
the  other  accounts  given  of  Moses  in  Cyclopccdias  and  Biblical 
Dictionaries  add  nothing  of  any  value  to  the  researches  and 
reflections  of  the  two  above-mentioned  writers. 

Oxford,  G.  R. 

February  27,  1887. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FAGE 

Israel  in  Egypt i 

Jacobs  descent  into  Egypt  :  Joseph's  position  :  Circumstances  of 
Egypt  at  the  time — Josephs  Pharaoh,  Apepi  — Israel  after  Joseph's 
death — Commencement  of  the  severe  oppression  ;  its  nature — 
Edict  issued  to  destroy  all  the  male  infants. 

CHAPTER  n. 
Birth  of  Moses ,       ...      13 

Moses'  parents  ;  their  position  ;  their  place  of  abode — His  sister, 
Miriam — His  elder  brother,  Aaron — Aaron's  birth  had  not  needed 
to  be  concealed — Concealment  of  the  birth  of  Moses — Plan  to 
save  him  when  further  concealment  was  impossible — The  plan 
skilfully  carried  out, 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Moses'  Childhood ,       ,       ,       ,    qt 

Name  given  to  the  saved  child — His  early  life  at  the  Court — Im- 
pressions made  on  him  by  his  surroundings — His  intercourse 
with  his  own  family  —  Story  told  of  his  trampling  on  the 
Pharaoh's  crown— His  beauty,  spirit,  and  intelligence. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Education  .       .        , ,       .    27 

The  physical  training  of  Moses— Egyptian  atlilctic  games— Early 
instruction— Reading  and  writing — Egyptian  writing  involved  a 
training  in  art — Aritlimetic— Music  and  rhythm —  Later  instruc- 
tion—University  of  Ilehopolis — Subjects  of  tlie  University  course 
— Geometry— Literature  —  Astronomy — Law — Medicine — Philo- 
sophy of  Symbolism — Position  of  Moses  among  th«  stud«nts. 


VI  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V 

PAGE 

Early  Manhood  of  Moses    ....'••.      41 

Anomalous  position  of  an  adopted  foundling  at  the  Egj'ptian 
Court — Annoyances  to  which  Moses  would  be  subjected — Courses 
of  life  which  would  natr.rally  be  open  to  him — The  official  life — 
The  literary  life — The  life  of  a  soldier  ;  its  attractions  at  the  time 
— Grounds  for  concluding  that  Moses  adopted  the  military  life — 
Training  which  it  involved — Moses  in  the  Hittite  wars — Account 
given  byjosephvis  of  Moses' successes  against  the  Ethiopians — 
The  account  criticized. 

CHAPTER  VL 
The  Great  Decision 51 

Prospects  of  Moses  after  the  Ethiopian  expedition — His  leaning 
towards  his  brethren — His  "  tour  of  inspection  '' — His  remon- 
strances in  high  quarters  ineffectual — Two  possible  courses  open 
to  him — The  great  decision — Moses  casts  in  his  lot  with  his  breth- 
ren— His  efforts  to  help  them — His  hasty  homicide — His  danger 
— His  flight  eastward — His  arrival  in  Midian. 

CHAPTER  Vn. 
Moses  in  Midian ,       ,     61 

Country  occupied  by  the  Midianites — Position  of  Reuel  among 
them — Position  of  Moses— Character  of  the  Sinaitic  region — 
Desolation  —  Silence  —  Occasional  sand-storms  —  Silence  of  the 
nights — Moses'  life  in  the  desert  a  preparation  for  his  subsequent 
career — Few  circumstances  of  his  life  known  to  us — Names  of 
his  sons  and  explanation  of  them — Egyptian  story  of  Saneha 
illustrates  this  part  of  the  history  of  Moses. 

CHAPTER  Vni. 
The  Return  to  Egypt •70 

Events  in  Egypt  during  the  absence  of  Moses — Peace  made  with 
the  Hittites— Peace  cemented  by  an  intermarriage — Attention  of 
Ramesses  II.  turned  to  the  construction  of  great  works — Increased 
sufferings  of  the  Israelites — Death  of  Ramesses  II. — His  cha- 
racter— Menephthah  continues  the  oppression — God's  appearance 
to  Moses  in  the  bush — His  call — His  resistance  to  the  call — The 
punishment  of  his  resistance — The  ground  of  it — Relations  of 
Moses  with  Jethro — He  is  allowed  to  depart,  but  lingers — Picture 
of  his  dej^arture — His  dangerous  illness  and  its  consequences — 
His  meeting  with  Aaron. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Long  Struggle  with  Pharaoh 85 

The  two  brothers  convene  the  elders  of  Israel — Their  mission 
accepted — Their  first  appearance  before  Pharaoh,  and  the  risk 


CONTENT  .  VU 

PAGE 

thpy  ran— The  demand  and  its  rejection  —  Pharaoh  increases 
the  oppression- Moses'  appeal  to  God  and  God's  answer-Second 
interview  betwen  the  two  brothers  and  the  king— Contest  Willi  the 
magicians  begins-The  First  Plague  :  Pharaoh  unmoved  by  it— 
The  Second,  or  Plague  of  Frogs:  Pharaoh  relents,  but  recovers 
himself— The  Third,  or  Plague  of  Lice  :  the  magicians  gu'e  way, 
but  the  Pharaoh  is  unmoved— The  Fourth,  or  Plague  of  Beetles  : 
Pharaoh  gives  permission,  but  retracts  it— The  Fifth,  or  I  lague 
of  Murrain-The  Sixth,  or  Plague  of  Boils-The  Seventh  or 
Plague  of  Hail :  Pharaoh  again  yields,  but  retracts— The  l^ighth, 
or  Piacrue  of  Locusts-The  Ninth,  or  Plague  of  Darkness— The 
Tenth^or  Death  of  the  First-born— Pharaoh  drives  Israel  out. 


CHx\PTER  X.  S 

The  Passage  of  the  Red  Sea     ,       .       "'       •        •       •       •    "9 

The  gathering— The  number  that  came  together— The  halt  at 
Succoth— Change  in  the  direction  of  the  march— Encampment  at 
Migdol— Peril  of  the  position  and  faith  of  Moses— Regret  of 
PhKraoh— His  pursuit  of  Israel-Terror  of  the  Israelites— Move- 
ment of  the  Pillar  of  the  Cloud— Passage  of  the  sea  by  Israel— 
The  Ecryptians  pursue— Their  difficulties— Destruction  of  the  entire 
armv— Completeness  of  the  deliverance— Credit  which  attaches 
to  Moses  in  respect  of  it— Moses'  Song  of  Triumph. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Struggle  with  Amalak ^3^ 

The  Sinaitic  Peninsula— Its  geography— Its  population  in  the 
early  Egyptian  period— Its  early  history— The  population  in 
Moses'  t!me-The  Kenites-The  Amalekites-Natural  hostility  of 
the  latter  to  Israel— Their  guerilla  warfare-1  he  great  fight  at 
Rephidim-Part  taken  by  Moses-Results  of  the  victory,  and  com- 
memoration of  it. 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Moses  at  Sinai * 


Sinai  •  its  geo^-raphical  feature— God's  manifestation  of  Himself  143 
to  Ivraelthere.'direcllv,  through  the  elders,  and  through  Moses- 
Abiding  proof  of  the  last-named  minifestation  in  the  light  that 
shone  from  Moses'  countenance- Purpose  of  the  manifestations— 
Tile  lecrjslation  of  Sinai.  no\.frorn.  but  only  through  Moses— Indi- 
vidualitv  of  Moses  strongly  marked  in  his  conduct  at  Sinai— His 
reverence- His  care  for  the  peoi^le- His  inr^ignation  at  their 
apostasv— His  severe  punishment  of  it— His  subsequent  interces- 
sion for'  his  people- His  stupendous  act  of  selt-devotion  and  its 
consequences,  to  the  people,  i&  himself— Exaltation  of  the  cha- 
racter of  Moses  after  Sinai. 


Vin  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

PAGE 

Hebrew  Art  in  Moses'  Time 155 

Hebrew  Art  more  advanced  than  might  have  appeared  probable — 
Possible  derivation  of  some  of  it  from  Chaldea — Artificers  needed 
by  nomadic  tribes— Advances  which  Hebrew  Art  would  naturally 
have  made  in  Egypt — Egyptian  and  Hebrew  Metallurgy — Car- 
pentry— Textile  industry — Embroidery — Tanning  and  dyeing  of 
leather — Gem-cutting  and  gem-engraving — Coniection  of  spices 
and  unguents — General  Egyptian  character  of  Hebrew  Art  in 
Moses'  time — Exceptions — Hebrew  eclecticism. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Moses  as  Ruler      ,        ...        .       .        ....    167 

Difficulties  of  the  situation — Disorganization — Judges  appointed 
by  the  advice  of  Jethro — Perversity  of  the  Israelites — Their  con- 
stant murmurings— Moses  but  little  helped  by  his  subordinates — 
Conduct  of  Aaron  and  Miriam — Relations  of  Moses  with  Joshua 
and  Phinehas — The  true  support  of  Moses,  the  Theocracy — Its 
nature — Mildness  and  unselfishness  of  Moses. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Later  Years  of  Moses 174 

Departure  of  the  Israelites  from  Sinai — Route  to  Kadesh-Barnea 
— Kibroth-hattaavah  and  the  troubles  there — Hazeroth  and  the 
sin  of  Miriam — First  arrival  at  Kadesh — The  spies  and  their  re- 
port— The  sin  of  the  people,  and  the  sentence  on  it — Israel 
smitten  by  Amalek — The  thirty-eight  years  of  penal  wandering — 
Israel  hardened  and  braced  by  them — Rebellion  of  Korah  and 
its  consequences — Return  to  Kadesh — Death  of  Miriam — Sin  of 
Moses  and  Aaron,  and  death  of  Aaron — War  with  Arad — War 
with  the  Amorites — Sihon — Og — Conquest  of  the  Trans-jordanic 
region — War  with  Midian  and  Moab— Part  taken  in  it  by  Balaam 
— Moses  at  Abel-Shittim — He  exhorts  the  .people — His  appoint- 
ment of  Joshua  as  his  successor — His  injunctions  respecting  the 
Book  of  the  Law — His  last  words — The  Song  of  Warning — The 
Song  of  Blessing — Extracts. 

CHAPTER  XVL 

Moses'  Death 195 

The  ascent  of  Pisgah — The  view  from  it — Hebrew  legend  of  the 
circumstances  of  Moses'  death— Actual  circumstances  unknown — 
Place  ol  sepulture  unknown — Chief  characteristics  of  Moses — His 
faithful  service  of  God — His  "meekness" — His  trust  in  God — 
His  unselfishness — Conclusion. 


CHAPTER    I. 

ISRAEL    IN    EGYPT. 

Jacob's  descent  into  Egypt :  Joseph's  position  :  Circumstances  of  Egypt 
at  the  time — Joseph's  Pharaoh,  Apepi — Israel  after  Joseph's  death — 
Commencement  of  the  severe  oppression  ;  its  nature — Edict  issued  to 
destroy  all  the  male  infants. 

The  circumstances  of  the  birth  and  early  life  of  Moses,  and  his 
position  in  Egypt,  cannot  be  set  forth  intelligibly  without  some 
previous  consideration  of  the  historical  antecedents  whereby 
those  circumstances  were  brought  about,  and  that  position 
rendered  possible.  The  historical  antecedents  were  strange 
and  abnormal.  Three  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Moses 
was  born,  there  had  arrived  in  Egypt  a  band  of  immigrants 
from  Palestine,  amounting  to  several  hundreds,  or  perhaps  to 
some  thousands,  who  had  been  permitted  to  become  permanent 
settlers.  Their  advent  was  not  unexpected.  The  great 
minister  of  a  great  Egyptian  king  had  received  instructions 
from  the  monarch  to  invite  into  Egypt  his  father,  his  eleven 
brothers,  and  their  households  (Gen.  xlv.  17,  18).  He  had 
done  so,  and  they  had  taken  advantage  of  the  invitation,  and 
traversed  the  desert  which  divides  Palestine  from  Egypt  in  a 
huge  caravan,  bringing  with  them  their  flocks  and  their  herds, 
their  asses,  their  tents  and  their  tent-furniture,  their  women  and 
their  children,  their  bond-slaves,  and  "all  that  they  had."  It 
is  not  an  unreasonable  calculation  of  Dean  Payne  Smith's, 
that  they  numbered  altogether  three  thousand  souls.'  The 
"household"  {(cipJi)^  according  to  the  Hebrew  idea,  included 

«  "  Bampton  Lectuies,"  p.  89. 
2 


3  MOSES. 

not  merely  wife  and  children,  but  men-servants  and  maid- 
servants, dependents  and  retainers,  even  hirelings  who  might 
quit  the  service  and  go  elsewhere  when  it  pleased  them.  The 
household  of  Abraham,  when  he  went  in  pursuit  of  Chedor- 
laomer,  comprised  three  hundred  and  eighteen  adult  males, 
capable  of  bearing  arms,  who  had  all  been  "  born  in  his  house  " 
(Gen.  xiv.  14).  His  taph  must  altogether  have  exceeded  twelve 
hundred  persons.  Jacob's  is  not  likely  to  have  been  less  ;  and 
if  we  allow  his  eleven  sons,  who  were  all  grown  up  and  had 
families,  an  average  of  two  hundred  a- piece,  their  taphs  would 
have  amounted  to  two  thousand  two  hundred,  giving  a  total  for 
the  immigrants  of  three  thousand  four  hundred.  That  so  large 
a  body  should  be  favourably  received  need  not  excite  surprise. 
Egypt  was  always  open  to  refugees  from  foreign  lands,  and  the 
circumstances  of  the  time  were  such  as  secured  this  particular 
body  of  immigrants  a  warm  welcome. 

The  chief  of  these  circumstances  was  their  kinsman's, 
Joseph's,  position.  Joseph  had  been  recognized  by  the  Pharaoh 
of  the  time  as  "a  man  in  whom  the  Spirit  of  God  was"  (Gen. 
xli.  38) — a  man  "discreet  and  wise"  above  all  others  (verse  39). 
He  had  not  only  been  granted  the  highest  honours  that  the 
Egyptian  monarchs  ever  allowed  to  a  subject,  but  he  had  been 
made  actual  ruler  of  the  whole  land  under  the  king.  He  had 
employed  his  extraordinary  powers  wisely  and  well,  had  made 
provision  for  carrying  Egypt  safely  through  a  period  of  extreme 
difficulty,  and  had  greatly  enriched  the  royal  treasury  by  his 
arrangements.  There  was  scarcely  any  favour  within  reason- 
able bounds  that  the  successful  minister  could  ask  which  the 
king  was  likely  to  refuse  to  him.  He  "  was  a  father  to  Pharaoh, 
and  lord  of  all  his  house,  and  a  ruler  throughout  all  the  land  of 
Egypt"  (Gen.  xlv.  8).  Moreover,  it  is  perhaps  not  too  much  to 
say,  that  personal  intercourse  with  his  minister  had  produced  a 
real  feeling  of  friendliness  and  attachment  between  the  two,  and 
had  disposed  the  Pharaoh  to  make  spontaneous  efforts  to  afford 
gratification  to  his  loved  and  trusted  adviser.  In  the  particular 
case  of  which  we  are  speaking,  Joseph  was  not  actually  obliged 
to  prefer  any  petition.  He  expressed  to  his  brethren  his  desires 
respecting  them,  and  his  words  having  been  reported  to  the 
Court,  the  Pharaoh  came  forward  voluntarily,  without  being 
asked,  and  proposed  to  his  minister  that  he  should  send  his 
brethren  to  fetch  their  father  and  their  households,  adding  of 


ISRAEL   IN    EGYPT.  3 

his  own  account  the  suggestion,  that  they  should  be  supplied 
with  wheeled  vehicles  for  the  conveyance  of  their  wives  and 
"little  ones"  (Gen.  xlv.  19).  So  anxious  was  he  to  please  his 
minister  and  anticipate  his  wishes. 

The  condition  of  Egypt  was  also  such  that  a  body  of  immi- 
grants froni  the  quarter  from  which  the  family  of  Jacob  came 
could  not  be  otherwise  than  welcome.  Egypt  hnd  been  con- 
quered, some  centuries  before  the  time  of  Joseph,  by  a  nomadic 
race  from  Asia,  of  pastoral  habits.  The  conquest  had  been 
accompanied  with  extreme  cruelty  and  violence  ;  wherever  the 
nomads  triumphed,  the  males  of  full  age  had  been  massacred, 
the  women  and  children  reduced  to  slavery,  the  cities  burnt, 
the  temples  demolished,  the  images  of  the  gods  thrown  to  the 
ground.  An  oppressive  and  tyrannical  rule  had  been  established. 
The  old  Egyptians,  the  native  African  race,  were  bowed  down 
beneath  the  yoke  of  unsympathetic  aliens.  Although  by 
degrees  the  manners  of  the  conquerors  became  softened, 
and,  as  so  often  happens,  the  rude  invaders  conformed  them- 
selves more  and  more,  in  language,  habits,  and  methods  of 
thought,  to  the  pattern  set  them  by  their  more  civilized 
subjects,  yet,  so  far  as  feelings  and  sentiments  were  concerned, 
a  wide  gulf  still  separated  the  two.  Like  the  Aryan  Persians 
under  the  rule  of  the  Parthians,  like  the  native  Chinese  under 
the  Mantchu  Tartars,  the  Egyptians  groaned  and  repined  in 
secret,  and  persistently  nurtured  the  hope  of  one  day  re-asserting 
their  independence.  Nor  were  their  foreign  masters  unaware 
of  these  feelings.  They  knew  themselves  to  be  detested  ;  they 
were  conscious  of  the  volcano  under  their  feet ;  they  lived  in 
expectation  of  an  outbreak,  and  were  always  engaged  in  making 
preparations  against  it.  In  this  condition  of  affairs,  each  band 
of  immigrants  from  Asia,  especially  if  of  nomadic  habits,  was 
regarded  as  an  accession  of  strength,  and  was  therefore 
welcomed  and  treated  with  favour.  Shepherds  were  "an 
abomination"  to  the  real  native  Egyptians.  To  the  Hyksos 
kings,  who  held  the  dominion  of  Egypt,  shepherds  were  con- 
genial, and  Asiatic  shepherds,  more  or  less  akin  to  their  own 
race,  were  viewed  as  especially  trustworthy  and  reliable. 
Hence  the  warmth  of  Pharaoh's  welcome.  When  Joseph 
introduced  his  brethren  to  the  monarch,  and,  in  answer  to  the 
question,  "  What  is  your  occupation  .^ "  they  replied — "  Thy 
servants  are  shepherds,  both  we  and  our  fathers,  thy  servants' 


4  MOSES. 

trade  has  been  about  cattle  from  our  youth  even  until  now — for 
to  sojourn  in  the  land  we  are  come  ;  for  thy  servants  have  no 
pasture  for  their  flocks  ;  now  therefore,  we  pray  thee,  let  thy 
servants  dwell  in  the  land  of  Goshen,"  the  Pharaoh's  words 
to  Joseph  were — "Thy  father  and  thy  brethren  are  come  unto 
thee  ;  the  land  of  Egypt  is  before  thee  ;  171  the  best  of  the  land 
make  thy  father  and  thy  brethren  to  dwell  ;  in  the  land  of 
Goshen  let  them  dwell ;  and  if  thou  knowest  any  men  of 
activity  amongst  them,  then  make  the?n  rulers  over  my  cattle  " 
(Gen.  xlvii.  5,  6). 

The  particular  king,  moreover,  who  at  the  time  of  Jacob's 
entrance  into  Egypt  occupied  the  throne,  had  reasons  for  being 
especially  drawn  towards  the  nomadic  tribe,  which  under  their 
sheikh,  Jacob,  solicited  his  favour.  George  the  Syncellus  tells 
us,  that  there  was  a  universal  consensus  of  historians  w-ith  re- 
spect to  the  fact,  that  the  monarch  who  raised  Joseph  to  power 
was  the  Shepherd  King,  Apepi.  He  does  not  say,  as  some 
have  made  him  say,^  that  the  synchronism  was  generally  agreed 
upon  by  the  ecclesiastical  historians;  but  that  it  w-as  "agreed 
upon  by  all  "  ^ — z.^.,  by  all  the  historians  with  whose  works  he 
was  acquainted.  Among  these  were  certainly  Abydenus, 
Apollodorus,  Eratosthenes,  Alexander  Polyhistor,  the  friend 
of  Sulla,  Zosimus  of  Panopolis,  Africanus,  Annianus,  and 
Panodorus,  possibly  also  many  others,  some  Christian,  some 
heathen,  some  writers  on  Church  subjects,  some  authors  of 
purely  secular  histories.  The  tradition,  thus  strongly  sup- 
ported, receives  confirmation  from  Egyptian  chronology,  which 
places  an  interval  of  four  hundred  years  between  the  time  of 
Apepi  and  a  late  year  in  the  reign  of  the  second  Ramesses,^ 
while  Hebrew  chronology  places  an  interval  of  four  hundred 
and  thirty  years  between  Jacob's  entrance  into  Egypt  and  the 
Exodus,  which  belongs  to  the  reign  of  Ramesses  the  Second's 
son. 

But  if  Apepi  was  the  king  to  whom  Joseph  owed  his  elevation, 
there  would  have  been  in  his  religion  a  fresh  bond  between  him 
and  his  minister,  and  a  fresh  ground  for  his  sympathizing 
warmly  with  the  new  immigrants.  Apepi  was  a  monoiheist. 
One  peculiarity  of  the  Hyksos  period,  belonging  especially  to 

*  Bunsen,  "  Eg}^pt's  Place  in  Universal  History,"  vol  ii.  p.  438. 
^  "  Chronographia,"  p.  62,  B  ;  p.  69,  C. 
3  "Records  of  the  Past,''  vol.  iv.  p.  36. 


ISRAEL   IN   EGYPT.  5 

its  later  portion,  is  to  be  found  in  the  religious  views  professed, 
proclaimed,  and  enjoined  upon  subject  princes.  Apepi,  accord- 
ing to  the  MS.  known  as  'the  First  Sallier  Papyrus,' made  a 
great  movement  in  Lower  Egypt  in  favour  of  monotheism. 
Whereas  previously  the  Shepherd  Kings  had  allowed  among 
their  subjects,  if  they  had  not  even  practised  themselves,  the 
worship  of  a  multitude  of  gods,  Apepi  'took  to  himself  a 
single  god  for  lord,  refusing  to  serve  any  other  god  in  the 
whole  land.  According  to  the  Egyptian  writer  of  the  MS.,  the 
name  under  which  he  worshipped  his  god  was  Sutech  ;  and 
some  writers  have  supposed  that  he  chose  this  god  out  of  the 
existing  Egyptian  Pantheon,  because  he  was  the  god  of  the 
North,  where  his  own  dominion  lay.  But  Sutech,  though 
undoubtedly  he  had  a  place  in  the  Egyptian  Pantheon  from 
very  ancient  times,  seems  to  have  been  essentially  an  Asiatic 
god,  the  special  deity  of  the  Hittite  nation,  with  which  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  the  Shepherd  Kings  were  closely  con- 
nected. Apepi,  moved  by  a  monotheistic  impulse,  selected 
Sutech,  we  should  suppose,  rather  out  of  his  own  gods  than  out 
of  the  Egyptian  deities,  and  determined  that,  whatever  had 
been  the  case  previously,  henceforth  he  would  renounce  poly- 
theism, and  worship  one  only  lord  and  god,  the  god  long  known 
to  his  nation,  and  to  his  own  ancestors,  under  the  name  above 
mentioned.  Apepi's  monotheism  was  a  bond  of  union  be- 
tween him  and  the  family  of  Joseph,  and  may  well  have 
been  among  the  grounds  of  the  especial  favour  which  he 
accorded  to  them. 

Apepi  placed  the  Israelites  "  in  the  best  of  the  land— in  the 
land  of  Goshen  " — probably  the  alluvial  district  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  Pelusiac  branch  of  the  Nile,  which  verged  upon  the 
desert,  and  was  a  good  pasturage  country,  where  the  royal 
cattle  were  pastured  (Gen.  xlvii.  6).  At  first  the  Israelites 
would  occupy  but  a  small  portion  of  the  district  ;  but  as  they 
began  to  "  multiply  exceedingly  "  (Gen.  xlvii.  27),  they  must 
have  spread  further  and  further  to  the  west  and  south,  favoured 
still  by  Apepi,  and  even  after  his  death  protected  by  the  pres- 
tige of  Joseph,  whose  prudent  and  successful  administration  of 
the  country  could  not  easily  have  been  forgotten,  and  who,  if 
deposed  by  Apepi's  successor,  must  still  have  been  a  power 
and  an  influence  in  the  country.  The  weight  and  consideration 
that  attached  to  Joseph  until  his  death,  and  even  afterwards,  is 


6  MOSES. 

indicated  in  the  Scriptural  narrative  by  the  contrast  drawn 
between  the  earlier  and  the  later  period  of  the  Egyptian  sojourn, 
after  a  "  king  arose,  which  knew  not  Joseph." 

But  the  change  in  the  condition  and  treatment  of  the  Israelites 
by  the  rulers  of  the  country  was  probably  very  slow  and  gradual. 
According  to  the  Hebrew  text  of  Exod.  xii.  40,  41,  a  space  of 
nearly  four  centuries  and  a  half  intei"\'ened  between  the  entrance 
of  the  children  of  Israel  into  Egypt  and  their  exodus  under  the 
leadership  of  Moses  ;  and,  although  the  real  duration  of  the 
period  is  disputed,^  the  balance  of  probability  is  in  favour  of 
this  long  term  rather  than  of  a  shorter  one.  The  growth  of  a 
tribe,  numbering  even  three  thousand  persons,  into  a  nation  of 
above  two  millions,  abnormal  and  remarkable  if  it  took  place 
within  a  period  of  four  hundred  and  thirty  years,  would  be 
still  more  strange  and  astonishing  if  the  space  of  time  were 
seriously  curtailed.  The  ten  generations  between  Jacob  and 
Joshua  (i  Chron.  vii.  22-27),  who  was  a  grown  man  at  the 
time  of  the  Exodus,  require  a  term  of  four  centuries  rather 
than  one  of  two.  Egyptian  chronology  also  favours  the  longer 
period.  Adopting  it,  we  must  divide  the  Eg}'ptian  sojourn  into 
three  portions — one  of  about  seventy  years,  during  which  the 
Israelites  enjoyed  the  powerful  protection  of  Joseph  ;  a  second 
of  about  two  hundred  and  sixty  years,  during  which  they 
were  "  afflicted,"  but  did  not  suffer  any  very  severe  oppression  ; 
and  a  third  of  about  a  century,  throughout  which  their  "lives 
were  made  bitter,  and  all  their  service,  wherein  the  Egyptians 
made  them  serve,  was  with  rigour"  (Exod,  i.  14). 

The  chief  event  of  the  first  period  must  have  been  the  death 
of  Apepi,  or  his  expulsion  from  Egy-pt  by  the  great  founder  of 
the  eighteenth  dynasty,  Aahmes.  Apepi,  in  his  later  years, 
alarmed  at  the  growing  power  of  Thebes  under  the  Ra-Sekenens, 
picked  a  quarrel  with  the  reigning  Theban  monarch,  Taa-ken, 
and  engaged  in  a  war  with  the  native  Egyptians  of  the  Upper 
Country,  in  which  he  ultimately  suffered  complete  defeat.  He 
had  to  retire  upon  his  frontier  city,  Auaris,  where  he  was  at- 
tacked by  Taa-ken's  successor,  Aahmes,  who  after  a  time  took 
the  city,  and  drove  out  the  entire  body  of  the  invaders  (or,  rather, 
of  their  descendants),  who  had  made  themselves  masters  of 
Egypt  under  Saites.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  whether 
the  Israelites  were  called  upon  to  take  part  in  this  war,  and,  if 
*  See  Mr.  Deane's  "Abraham  :  His  Life  and  Times,"  pp.  81-84. 


ISRAEL   IN    EGYPT. 


SO,  what  response  they  made  to  the  call  ;  but  unluckily  history 
is 'silent  on  these  points,  and  we  are  left  to  conjecture.  One 
thin-  alone  is  evident.  They  did  not  throw  in  their  lot  with  the 
Hyksos.  Engaged  under  them  in  the  quiet  pursuits  of  pasturing 
cattle,  and  perhaps  to  some  extent  of  agriculture,  they  were 
probably  unwilling  to  take  up  arms,  and  perhaps  were  not  even 
called  upon  to  do  so.  Hence,  they  did  not  suffer  expulsion. 
The  victorious  party  under  Aahmes  left  the  harmless  shepherds 
in  possession  of  their  rich  pasturages,  and  Goshen  continued 
to  be  inhabited  by  the  descendants  of  Jacob.  As  time  went  on 
and  they  multiplied,  Goshen  must  have  become  more  and  more 
thickly  peopled  ;  but  the  land  was  rich,  the  shepherds  prospered, 
and  in  any  times  of  difficulty  they  had  a  great  and  poweriul  pro- 
tector in  Joseph. 

The  death  of  Joseph,  which  ushered  in  the  second  period, 
must  have  at  once  sensibly  affected  the  position  of  the  descen- 
dants of  Jacob.     They  had  no  longer  an  advocate  among  the 
great  of  the  land,  to  look  after  their  interests,  intervene  on 
their  behalf  when  needful,  and  call  the  attention  of  those  m 
power  to  any  grievance  of  which  they  might  have  to  complain. 
Joseph's  position  must  have  been  high,  even  to  the  end  of  his 
life,  as  we  see  by  the  long  continuance  of  his  memory  (Exod.  1.8). 
But  his  position  was  not  inherited  by  either  of  his  sons,  or  by 
any  descendant,  though  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  as  grandsons 
of  a  High  Priest  of  On,  must  certainly  have  been  persons  of 
some  co'nsideration,  even  after  their  fiither's  decease.     The  old 
Egyptian  prejudice  against  shepherds  would  cause  the  Israelites 
to  be  looked  down  upon  and  shunned,  while  their  foreign  des- 
cent and  the  fact  that  they  had  been  \\i^  proteges  of  the  Hyksos 
would  also  tend  to  lower  them  in  the  public  esteem.     It  was 
probably  not  very  long  after  Joseph's  death  that  the  "affliction," 
or  ill-usage,  commenced  which  had  been  foretold  to  Abraham 
(Gen.  XV.  13).    The  Israelites  began  to  be  treated  by  their  rulers 
and  by  the  upper  classes  of  the  Egyptians  much  as  \\i^fellahin 
of  the  present  day  are  treated  by  their  Turkish  masters.     They 
were  despised,  regarded  as  of  small  account,  tyrannized  over, 
struck  upon  occasions.     As  they  grew  in  numbers  Goshen  be- 
came too  small  for  them,  and  they  were  compelled  to  take  up 
their  abode  in  the  great  towns,  or  to  emigrate  into  the  neigh- 
bouring districts,  where  they  had  to  work  as  common  labourers 
on  the  land  of  others,  or  else  to  occupy  themselves  in  handi- 


8  MOSES. 

crafts.  Egypt  was  very  flourishing  at  the  time,  and  they  would 
have  had  httle  difficuhy  in  finding  employment ;  but  the  passage 
from  the  independent  nomadic  life  to  a  settled  abode  in  towns, 
or  even  to  a  hired  service  in  a  country  district,  is  always  grievous 
to  those  who  have  enjoyed  the  freedom  of  the  pastoral  state, 
and  is  viewed  as  a  degradation.  The  Israelites  did  not  probably 
suffer  from  the  wars  of  the  period,  for  a  foreign  subject  race 
would  not  be  pressed  into  the  Egyptian  service,  and  the  dynasty 
was  so  successful  in  its  military  expeditions  that  Egypt  had 
never  in  its  turn  to  suffer  invasion  ;  so  that,  on  the  whole,  the 
"  affliction "  was,  thus  far,  perhaps  more  sentimental  than 
physical,  affecting  minds  rather  than  bodies,  and  consisting 
more  in  diminished  consideration  than  in  any  very  tangible 
grievances,  except  occasionally,  when  the  poorer  and  weaker 
members  of  the  race  came  into  contact  with  Egyptian  aristocrats. 

In  one  respect  the  time  was  marked  by  an  extraordinary 
degree  of  prosperity.  It  was  during  the  two  hundred  and  sixty 
years  of  the  second  period  that  "the  children  of  Israel  were 
fruitful  and  increased  abundantly,  and  multiplied,  and  waxed 
exceeding  mighty  ;  and  the  land  was  filled  with  them"  (Exod.  i.  7). 
The  population  increased  from  twenty  thousand  to  (probably) 
above  a  million,  and  became  thus  so  numerous  as  to  alarm  the 
native  Egyptians,  who  did  not  perhaps  themselves  number  more 
than  six  or  seven  millions.  Rapid  increase  of  numbers  is,  how- 
ever, an  advantage  only  under  certain  circumstances — z>.,  when  a 
tribe  or  a  people  has  a  large  unoccupied  territory,  or  when  com- 
merce or  manufactures  offer  practically  unlimited  employment 
to  any  multitude  of  applicants.  But  the  circumstances  of  Egypt 
were  not  such  as  to  afford  these  facilities  ;  and  the  result  must 
have  been  a  difficulty  in  obtaining  subsistence  on  the  part  of 
the  Israelites,  unless  they  consented  to  a  low  wage  or  to  occu- 
pations which  were  generally  distasteful.  Towards  the  close  of 
the  second  period  we  may  be  tolerably  sure  that  a  large  number 
of  them  were  forced  to  submit  to  both  these  inconveniences; 
that  the  lowest  kinds  of  employments  were  eagerly  accepted  by 
thousands  of  Hebrews  who  found  the  struggle  for  existence  a 
hard  fight,  and  that  these  persons  worked  at  wages  which  were 
barely  sufficient  to  keep  the  wolf  from  their  doors. 

The  third  period  now  arrived,  "  A  king  arose  up  over  Egypt 
who  knew  not  Joseph  "  (Exod.  i.  8).  The  memory  of  benefits 
received,  however  great,  dies  out  after  a  time.    Within  fourteen 


ISRAEL   IN    EGYPT.  9 

years  of  Salamis  the  Athenians  banished  Themistocles  ;  within 
seventeen  years  of  Waterloo  the  Duke  of  WelHngton  was 
obliged  to  protect  the  windows  of  Apsley  House  from  the  attacks 
of  the  London  mob  by  cast-iron  shutters.  We  ought  perhaps 
rather  to  admire  the  fidelity  of  the  Egyptians  to  the  memory  of  a 
former  benefactor,  and  the  tenacity  of  their  attachments,  than 
blame  them  for  fickleness,  or  hold  them  up  to  opprobrium  for 
ingratitude.  After  two  hundred  and  sixty  years  they  may  be 
pardoned  if  they  had  forgotten.  The  king  intended,  who  is 
called  "a  new  king,"  was  probably  Seti  I.,  the  founder,  or  quasi- 
founder,  of  a  dynasty— one  wholly  unconnected  with  the  preced- 
ing occupants  of  the  throne,  who,  if  he  had  heard  of  Joseph 
at  all,  had  heard  of  him  only  as  "  the  shadow  of  a  mighty 
name"— a  great  statesman  of  the  past,  perhaps  a  real  "  hero," 
perhaps  a  myth — and  who  failed  to  realize  it  as  a  fact,  that 
either  the  Egypt  of  his  time,  or  he  himself  individually,  was  in 
any  way  indebted  to  so  remote  and  shadowy  a  personage.  The 
king  looked  to  the  condition  of  Eg^^pt  with  the  dry,  hard  gaze 
of  shrewd,  practical  common  sense,  and  saw  in  the  position  of 
things  at  his  accession  great  cause  for  anxiety.  Egypt  was 
threatened  by  a  formidable  enemy  upon  her  north-eastern 
frontier.  Three  centuries  from  the  death  of  Apepi  brings  us  in 
Egyptian  history  to  the  close  of  Manetho's  eighteenth  dynasty, 
and  the  accession  of  his  nineteenth,  a  critical  period  in  the 
Eg}'ptian  annals,  and  one  of  much  interest.  Egypt  had  at  this 
time  lost  all  those  Asiatic  possessions  which  had  been  gained 
under  the  earlier  kings  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty — Thothmes  I., 
Thothmes  III.,  and  Amen-hotep  II.,  and  had  retired  within  her 
own  natural  borders.  South-western  Asia  had  fallen  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Khita  or  Hittites,  who  had  gradually  extended 
their  dominion  from  the  Cappadocian  highlands  to  the  low 
regions  of  Philistia  and  Western  Arabia.  In  alliance  with  the 
other  Canaanite  nations,  with  the  Philistines,  and  even  with  the 
Arabs  (Shasu),  the  Hittites  threatened  an  invasion  of  Egypt, 
which,  it  was  felt,  might  have  the  most  disastrous  consequences. 
What,  if  this  contingency  actually  occurred,  would  be  the  part 
taken  by  the  Israelites  ?  Might  it  not  be  that  they  would  ''join 
themselves  to  Egypt's  enemies,  and  fight  against  the  Egyptians" 
(Exod.  i.  id),  and  so  either  help  to  bring  them  under  subjection 
to  the  Hittites,  or  else  "get  themselves  up  out  of  the  land".? 
The  Israelites  occupied  the  portion  of  Egypt  which  the  Hittites 


lO  MOSES. 

would  first  enter  ;  if  they  joined  the  enemy  they  would  deliver 
into  his  hands  a  large  tract  of  most  valuable  territory,  and  put 
him  in  a  position  from  which  he  would  threaten  the  most  im- 
portant of  the  Egyptian  cities — Tanis,  Heliopolis,  Bubastis, 
Memphis.  Reflecting  upon  this,  the  Pharaoh  of  the  time — Seti  I., 
according  to  our  view — deemed  it  incumbent  on  him  to  take 
such  measures  as  should  seriously  weaken  and  depress  his 
Israelite  subjects,  crush  their  aspirations,  destroy  their  physical 
vigour,  and  by  degrees  diminish  their  numbers. 

The  first  step  was  to  deprive  them  of  their  freedom.  The 
sovereign  of  Egypt,  an  irresponsible  despot,  absolute  master  of 
the  lives  and  liberties  of  all  his  subjects,  had  full  power  to  reduce 
at  any  time  any  individual  among  them,  or  any  class  of  them, 
to  the  slave  condition.  The  pyramid  builders  had  done  this  on 
a  large  scale  in  the  days  of  old.  The  Pharaoh,  who  at  the  time 
of  which  we  are  speaking  occupied  the  throne,  made  public 
slaves  of  the  Israelites.  Without  perhaps  any  proclamation  of 
their  change  of  status,  he  practically  established  it  by  sending 
his  agents  into  the  districts  which  they  inhabited,  and  impressing 
into  his  service  as  forced  labourers  all  the  males  of  full  age,  who 
were  not  incapacitated  by  infirmity  or  sickness.  The  main  em- 
ployment which  he  assigned  to  them  was  in  connection  with 
his  buildings.  He  was  a  builder  of  cities,  especially  of  store- 
cities,  or  magazine-cities,  and  needed  for  their  construction  a 
constant  supply  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  bricks.  All  the 
outer  enclosures  of  cities,  of  temples,  and  of  tombs,  all  the 
houses,  all  the  walls  of  magazines  and  of  public  buildings 
generally,  except  temples  and  palaces,  were  built  of  this  mate- 
rial ;  even  the  mounds  upon  which  cities  were  ordinarily  em- 
placed,  to  raise  them  above  the  level  of  the  inundation,  were  of 
the  same  substance.  The  Israelites  M'ere  taken  from  their  free 
trade  of  shepherds,  lazily  tending  their  flocks  and  herds  in  the 
open  pastures  of  Goshen,  to  the  close  confinement  of  the  brick- 
field, where,  under  taskmasters  who  exacted  from  them  a  certain 
fixed  quantity  of  work,  they  dug  the  stiff  clay,  mixed  and 
kneaded  it  with  hands  or  feet,  shaped  it  carefully  into  the  proper 
form  by  means  of  a  mould,  and  at  the  end  of  the  day  produced 
their  "  tale  of  bricks  "  before  the  taskmaster.  The  labour  was 
heavy  and  incessant,  carried  on  under  a  hot  sun,  continued  from 
morning  to  night,  and  performed  under  fear  of  the  rod,  which 
was  at  once  freely  applied  to  the  back  and  shoulders  of  any  one 


ISRAEL   IN   EGYPT.  II 

who  was  thought  to  be  insufficiently  exerting  himself.  Another 
task  to  which  they  were  set  was  "service  in  the  field"  (Exod,  i.  14), 
probably  "  such  as  we  still  see  along  the  banks  of  the  Nile, 
where  the  peasants,  naked,  under  the  burning  sun,  work  through 
the  day  like  pieces  of  machinery  in  drawing  up  the  buckets  of 
water  from  the  level  of  the  river  for  the  irrigation  of  the  fields 
above." '  The  service  was  made  purposely  harder  than  it  need 
have  been,  since  the  object  was  to  break  down  the  people 
morally  and  physically,  to  exhaust  their  vital  power  by  over- 
work, and  so  to  shorten  their  lives.  "  The  Egyptians  made  the 
children  of  Israel  to  serve  with  rigour  ;  and  they  made  their 
lives  bitter  with  hard  bondage,  in  mortar,  and  in  brick,  and  in 
all  manner  of  service  in  the  field  :  all  their  service  wherein  they 
made  them  serve,  was  with  rigour"  (Exod.  i.  13,  14). 

It  was  hoped  that  this  over-work,  this  constant  drudger}''  of 
toil,  this  deep  "  affliction,"  aggravated  as  it  was  by  continual  blows 
from  the  taskmasters,  would  have  the  effect,  at  any  rate,  of  stop- 
ping any  further  increase  in  the  numbers  of  the  people,  even  if 
it  failed  to  produce  an  actual  reduction  of  their  numbers.  And  this 
would  have  been  the  natural  result,  had  Divine  Providence  not 
interfered,  but  allowed  the  ordinary  laws  which  govern  the  ebb 
and  flow  of  a  population  to  have  free  course  and  work  themselves 
out  unchecked.  Bat  such  was  not  the  Divine  will.  God,  who 
had  promised  Abraham  that  his  seed  should  increase  and  mul- 
tiply until  it  became  as  "the  stars  of  the  heaven,  and  as  the  sand 
which  is  upon  the  seashore"  (Gen.  xxii.  17)  for  multitude,  did  not 
submit  to  have  his  purpose  baffled  by  the  machinations  of  human 
adversaries.  By  suspending  the  operation  of  the  laws,  or  by 
counteracting  it,  he  brought  it  to  pass  that  the  rate  of  increase 
which  had  hitherto  prevailed  in  the  Hebrew  population  of  Eg)'pt 
should  rise  rather  than  fall  under  the  changed  circumstances: 
"  The  more  the  Egyptians  afflicted  them,  the  ?nore  iJiey  multipiiea 
and  grew ;  and  the  Egyptians  were  grieved  because  of  the 
people  of  Israel"  (Exod.  i.  12). 

A  despotic  monarch  does  not  readily  allow  his  designs  to  be 
defeated  and  set  aside.  The  Pharaoh  who  had  thought  to  "  deal 
wisely''^  with  the  Hebrews,  and  had  therefore  devised  the  plan 
of  crushing  them  and  preventing  them  from  multiplying  by  en- 
gaging them  in  continuous  hard  labour,  finding  his  craft  of  no 
avail,  had  recourse  to  violence.  Egypt  possessed  a  guild  ot 
'  Stanley,  "Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  85. 


12  MOSES. 

midwives,  one  portion  of  which  was  assigned  the  duty  of  minis- 
tering to  the  necessities  of  the  Hebrew  women  in  their  confine- 
ments. Pharaoh  issued  secret  orders  to  the  two  chief  midwives, 
and  through  them  to  the  others,  that,  when  they  performed  their 
office,  they  should  take  care  to  destroy  all  the  male  children, 
and  only  suffer  the  female  children  to  live.  Infanticide  was  a 
common  practice  among  many  ancient  nations,  as  the  Romans, 
the  Spartans,  and  others,  but  in  Egypt  it  was  accounted  a  crime; 
and  though  the  Pharaoh  was  reckoned  a  sort  of  divine  being 
by  his  subjects,  yet  it  was  not  felt  that  he  could  dispense  with 
the  laws  of  moral  obligation.  The  midwives  "  feared  God  " 
(Exod.  i.17)  more  than  they  feared  the  king,  and,  though  profess- 
ing a  willingness  to  carry  out  his  will,  practically  disobeyed  his 
orders.  The  male  children  were  spared  by  them,  with  the  result 
that  "  the  people  multiplied  "  more  than  ever,  and  "  waxed  very 
mighty"  (  ver.  20).  Then,  at  length,  the  king  left  off  his 
attempts  to  "  deal  wisely,"  craftily,  and  secretly,  with  the  difficult 
circumstances  in  which  he  considered  himself  to  be  placed  ;  he 
openly  issued  a  proclamation  to  his  subjects  generally,  requiring 
them  to  put  to  death  the  male  Hebrew  children  by  drowning 
them  in  the  Nile  (ver.  22).  Perhaps  he  represented  the  cruel 
requirement  as  given  by  the  command  of  the  Nile-god,  who 
needed  to  be  propitiated  by  human  sacrifices;  perhaps  he  found 
some  other  mode  of  justifying  himself  At  any  rate  the  order 
went  forth,  and  was  doubtless  acted  upon,  though  perhaps  not 
very  generally.  The  Egyptians  had  no  quarrel  with  their 
Hebrew  neighbours,  and  would  not  care  to  act  as  executioners  ; 
but  government  officials  would  be  employed  to  see  the  king's 
orders  carried  out,  and  no  doubt  for  several  years  many  thousands 
of  innocent  lives  were  sacrificed.  Still,  however,  the  king's 
purpose  was  not  effected.  Had  the  edict  been  rigorously  enforced^ 
the  people  would  have  been  extinguished  before  the  date  of  the 
Exodus.  But  it  had  then  reached  to  a  total  of  above  two  million 
souls  (Exod.  xii.  37).  Either,  therefore,  the  edict  must  have  been 
revoked  after  a  while,  or  it  must  gradually  have  sunk  into  oblivion. 
In  one  way  or  another  God's  will  triumphed  over  man's,  and  the 
people,  doomed  to  extinction  by  the  highest  human  power  which 
existed  on  earth  at  the  time,  was  preserved  by  God's  providence 
through  all  the  perils  which  threatened  it,  to  become,  according 
to  the  promise  given  to  Jacob  (Gen.  xxxv.  11),  "a  nation  and  a 
company  of  nations." 


CHAPTER  II. 

BIRTH  OF  MOSES. 

Moses'  parents  ;  their  position  ;  their  place  of  abode— His  sister,  Miriam— 
His  elder  brother  Aaron — Aaron's  birth  had  not  needed  to  be  concealed — 
Concealment  of  the  birth  of  Moses — Plan  to  save  Iiim  w  hen  further  con- 
cealment was  impossible — The  plan  skilfully  carried  out. 

The  father  of  Moses  is  first  introduced  to  us  as  "  a  man  of  the 
house  of  Levi  "  (Exod.  ii.  i).  We  are  subsequently  told  that  his 
name  was  Amram,  and  that  he  was  of  the  family  of  the  Kohath- 
ites,  who  were  descended  from  Kohath,  Levi's  second  son  (Exod. 
vi.  16-20).  He  took  to  himself  a  wife  of  the  same  tribe,  a  woman 
named  Jochebed,  who  was  "  his  father's  sister."  Such  marriages 
were  common  among  the  Egyptians,  and,  not  having  been  as  yet 
forbidden  by  any  positive  enactment,  seem  to  have  been  regarded 
as  lawful  by  the  Hebrews.  The  parents  of  Moses  were  persons 
in  humble  circumstances.  No  special  dignity  as  yet  attached 
to  the  Levites  among  the  children  of  Israel,  or  to  the  Kohathites 
among  the  Levites  ;  and  the  circumstances  of  the  Hebrews  since 
the  death  of  Joseph  had  been  such  as  rapidly  to  exhaust  ancestral 
wealth,  and  bring  the  whole  nation  down  to  an  almost  dead  level 
of  uniformity.  The  writer  of  the  Pentateuch  enters  into  few 
details;  but  we  gather  from  his  narrative,  that  Amram's  house- 
hold was  a  simple  and  a  modest  one,  where  the  main  duties  were 
discharged  by  the  house-mother  and  the  house-daughter,  whose 
appearance  was  such  that  they  could,  without  impropriety,  be 
asked  to  perform  menial  service  and  accept  "wages  "  (Exod.  ii.  9). 
The  abode  occupied  by'the  modest  household  was  in  or  near 
the  capital  city  of  the  time,  where  the  Court  resided.  The  capital 
was  situated  on  the  Nile,  or  on  one  of  its  branches,  and  was 
most  probably  Memphis.      Memphis  occupied  nearly  the  site 


14  MOSES. 

on  which  now  stands  the  great  city  of  Cairo,  one  of  the  most 
salubrious  residences  and  one  of  the  most  picturesque  cities  in 
the  world.  Itwas  a  lordly  and  magnificent  town.  Built,according 
to  the  tradition,  by  the  most  ancient  of  all  the  Egyptian  kings, 
M'na  or  Menes,  on  the  left  or  western  bank  of  the  river,  which 
washed  its  eastern  wall,  and  reflected  in  its  waves  temple, tower, 
and  palace,  tall  obelisk,  and  huge  colossus,  and  frowning  gate- 
way, the  city  of  Menes  was,  as  its  name  implied,  "a  Good,"  or 
*'  Pleasing  Abode,"  a  favourite  residence  of  the  monarchs,  and, 
in  the  earlier  years  covered  by  the  nineteenth  dynasty,  the  place 
where  the  Court  was  commonly  held.  Its  great  pride  and  glory 
was  the  Temple  of  Phthah.  Coeval  with  the  city,  founded,  that 
is  to  say,  by  Menes,  the  Temple  of  Phthah,  consisting  of  a  grand 
central  edifice,  surrounded  by  pillared  courts,  and  adorned  by 
colossal  statues,  by  pictured  representations  of  the  great  deeds  of 
kings,by  sphinxes,  inscriptions. tablets,  perhaps  by  obelisks,stood 
up  like  a  great  cathedral,  in  the  centre  of  the  lordly  town, the  work 
of  many  kings  and  of  many  ages,  telling  a  thrilling  tale  of  by- 
gone history  to  those  who  had  skill  to  read  the  past  in  its  archi- 
tecture, or  in  its  records.  Here  was  the  nucleus  of  the  building, 
the  cell  or  shrine  of  Phthah  originally  set  up  by  Menes;  there, 
towards  the  north,  was  the  great  portal  erected  by  Amenemhat 
III.,  or  Mceris;  in  front  of  the  grand  entrance  were  colossi 
attributed  to  Usurtasen  III.,  the  Greek  Sesostris;  all  around  were 
spread  out  the  white  arms  of  colonaded  courts,  the  work  of  this 
or  that  Pharaoh.  In  other  parts  of  the  town  were  numerous 
temples,  erected  to  other  deities.  On  the  eastern  edge  of  the  city, 
washed  on  one  side  by  the  river,  was  the  citadel,  or  "  White 
Castle,"  as  the  Greeks  in  after  times  called  it,  a  strong  fortress, 
girt  with  a  lofty  rampart  made  of  the  light  yellow  limestone 
which  the  neighbouring  desert  furnishes. 

Opposite  Memphis,  towards  the  west,  standing  out  in  clear 
outline  against  the  pale  sky,  was  its  vast  and  wonderful  necro- 
polis. Stretching  north  and  south  a  distance  of  nearly  twenty 
miles,  but  with  its  populous  centre  immediately  behind  Memphis, 
this  strange  "City  of  the  Dead"  confronted  the  living  city, 
drawing  the  eye  by  the  sharp  points  of  its  sixty  pyramids  ^  and 
especially  challenging  attention  by  those  huge  monuments  of 
kingly  vanity,  which  have  never  elsewhere  been  equalled,  the 
works  of  monarchs  anterior  to  Abraham,  which  defy  time  to 
'  Stuart  Poole,  "  Cities  of  Egypt,"  p.  26. 


BIRTH   OF   MOSES.  I5 

efface  them.  The  household  of  Amram  dwelt  under  the  shadow 
of  the  three  Great  Pyramids.  On  the  edge  of  the  western 
horizon,  as  often  as  they  lifted  their  eyes  towards  it,  they  would 
see  tho»^  giant  forms,  those  "  artificial  mountains,"  the  most 
impressive  monuments  that  have  ever  been  raised  by  human 
hands,  stupendous  memorials  of  their  builders'  egotism,  and  of 
the  misery  of  the  people  by  whom  they  were  built. 

Before  the  birth  of  Moses  the  family  was  one  comprising  four 
persons  only,  Amram,  the  paterfamilias^  probably  well  advanced 
in  years  ;  whether  handicraftsman,  or  field  labourer,  or  otherwise 
employed,  we  cannot  say,  but  a  man  at  any  rate  of  small  account 
among  those  among  whom  his  lot  was  cast;  Jochebed,  his  aunt 
and  wife,  the  viaief/a/jiilias,  tender  and  loving  house-mother; 
and  two  children,  Miriam  the  elder,  a  grown-up  girl,  some  fifteen 
or  sixteen  years  of  age,  or  perhaps  more,  and  Aaron,  a  boy,  an 
infant  not  yet  three  years  old.  Miriam,  the  first  of  all  the  Marys 
of  whom  history  tells,  is  a  soft  and  pleasing  figure  in  the  narra- 
tive. Brightly  she  rises  up  before  us  as  the  "  house-angel,"  the 
mother's  deft  and  ready  help,  the  father's  pride,  gifted  with 
precious  gifts,  as  those  of  music  and  of  song  (Exod.  xv.  20),  yet 
quiet  and  domestic,  content  to  keep  her  gifts  hidden,  and  to  do 
the  common  work  of  a  common  Hebrew  household.  Aaron  was, 
we  must  conclude,  born  before  the  cruel  edict  of  the  reigning 
Pharaoh  had  been  issued,  so  that  his  birth  had  not  needed  to 
be  concealed  ;  his  life  had  been  spared  by  the  God-fearing 
mid  wives;  or  his  mother  had  been  so  strong  and  healthful  that 
in  the  hour  of  her  travail  she  had  not  required  their  care  (Exod. 
i.  19).  As  the  eldest  son  of  the  house  he  would  have  been  its 
embryo  priest,  and  would  have  been  set  apart,  from  the  womb 
probably,  with  some  form  of  consecration.  He  would  also  have 
been  especially  welcome,  as  the  first  man-child  always  was  in  a 
Hebrew  household,  as  securing  the  continuance  of  the  family  in 
the  male  line,  or,  at  any  rate,  giving  a  reasonable  prospect  of  such 
continuance.  We  are  told  nothing  of  his  appearance,  but  may 
presume  that  he  too  was,  like  his  brother,  "a  goodly  child" 
Exod.  ii.  2),  o{  dL  physique  that  fitted  him  for  the  grand  and  lofty- 
position  xC^iich  he  afterwards  occupied.  He  was  as  yet,  however, 
but  a  boy,  a  happy,  careless  boy  of  three  years'  old,  ignorant  of 
the  weight  of  responsibility  that  was  about  one  day  to  fall  upon 
him,  the  delight  of  the  house  probably,  causing  general  cheer- 
fulness by  his  chatter  and  his  laughter. 


l6  MOSES. 

On  this,  as  on  most  other  Hebrew  households,  the  intelligence 
of  the  Pharaoh's  barbarous  edict  fell  like  a  blast  of  chill  air. 
Jochebed  was  still  of  age  to  bear  children,  and  she  either  knew 
when  the  edict  was  issued,  or  became  aware  soon  afterwards, 
that  she  was  once  more  about  to  give  birth  to  a  child.     Would 
it  be  a  male  child,  or  a  female  one?     In  the  former  case,  how 
could  she  bear  to  have  the  tender  clinging  babe  torn  from  her 
loving  arms  and  breast,  carried  off  by  rude  hands  out  of  her 
sight,  to  be  plunged  in  the  cold  stream,  that  flowed  so  near,  and 
suffocated  by  the  cruel  waves,  or  devoured  by  the  huge  jaws  of 
crocodiles  ?     How  could  she  bear  to  have  her  home  thus  dese- 
crated, her  mother's  heart  thus  rent  with  grief,  her  soul  tortured 
and  agonized  ?     She  felt  that  she  could  not  bear  it.     But  what 
resource  was  there  .-^     Could  it  be  hoped  that  a  mother's  tears 
and  prayers  would  move  the  heart  of  a  stern  and  fierce  king, 
and  that,  if  she  thrust  herself  into  his  presence,  or  otherwise  ob- 
tained an  interview,  she  would  prevail  on  him  to  relent  and 
spare  one  at  any  rate  of  the  doomed  victims.'^     Or  could  she 
look  to  make  an  impression  on  the  king's  myrmidons,  and,  when 
they  came  to  snatch  her  child  from  her  embrace,  induce  them 
to  refrain,  and  let  her  keep  him  ?     Such  thoughts  must  often 
have  passed  through  the  mind  of  Jochebed,  as  she  pondered 
during  all  the  long  weary  months  on  the  fate  of  the  child  that 
she  carried  in  her  womb  ;  and  they  must  have  become  aggra- 
vated and  intensified  to  an  inexpressible  degree,  when  the  time 
came  for  her  confinement,  and  she  was  delivered  of  a  male  child, 
and  looking  on  him  saw  that  he  was  a  "  goodly  infant."    Mothers 
have  been  known  to  favour  especially  the  least  beautiful  among 
their  offspring  :  but  when  was  there  one  who  could  look  upon 
her  new-born  babe,  if  it  possessed  the  gift  of  a  rare  beauty, 
without  a  thrill  of  delight  and  a  more  than  ordinary  affection  ? 
So  it  was  with  Jochebed.     She  might  perhaps  have  yielded  up 
her  child  to  the  hard  fate  commanded  by  the  king,  had  he  been 
an  infant  of  the  common  stamp,  with  nothing  attractive  about 
him  save  his   innocence   and   his   helplessness  ;    but  he   was 
"goodly"  (Exod.  ii.  2),  "proper "(Heb.  xi.  23),  "exceeding  fair  " 
(Acts  vii.  20),  of  a  beauty  that  seemed  almost  divine,  and  hence, 
when  she  looked  upon  him,  she  felt  nerved  to  defy  the  monarch 
and  his  myrmidons,  and  resolved  to  preserve  her  darling  in  despite 
of  them.  The  first  steps  were  comparatively  easy  to  accomplish. 
For  three  months  the  small  intruder  might  be  hid — his  father's 


BIRTH  OF  MOSES.  '7 

house  would  shelter  him-neighbours,  if  they  knew  of  thebirlh, 
would  not  be  likely  to  acquaint  the  civil  authonties-if  tliey 
;eeHebre^,^thev'wouldkeep  the  secret  through  sympathy; 
Tf  F<'^ptians,  they  would  do  so  out  of  pity,  and  because  theie 
Is  r,o    all  upon  them  to  turn  "  informers."     But,  as  t,me  went 
;ncrncealmint  would  become  a  '™- -^ --' ^nf:  met '' 
Egvpt  like  other  civilized  countries,  would  have  Us     informers 
live    and  ears  of  the  k,ng,  as  they  would  be  called,  to  gloss  over 
the  meanness  of  their  office.  The  tax-gatherer  -8>^'  ■-" 
of  his  periodical  calls  unexpectedly,  and  see  or  hear  the  mfant 
Wi  h  deep  reluctance,  but  with  a  feeling  that  there  was  no  help 
for  it,  no  other  course  possible  to  take,  Jochebed  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  her  home  could  no  longer  afford  her  ch  Id  a  safe 
Xe      He  must  be  disposed  of  elsewhere.     But  who  would 
receive  him  ?  Who  would  risk  incurring  the  kmg's  displeasure? 
Who  even  if  willing,  would  have  power  to  protect  the  young 
Tfe  so  inexpressibly  dear    to   her?    Jochebed  had  to  pause, 
to  reflect,  to  call  all  her  female  wit  and  cleverness  to  her  a,d 
in  order  to  devise  a  plan  that  had,  at  any  rate,  a  chance  of 

'"rut%  which  she  devised  was  the  following     She  knew 
the  place  where  a  daughter  of  '^e  reigning  Pharaoh  was  accus^ 
tomed  from  time  to  time  to  come  down  to  the  bank  of  the  sac  ed 
tream  and  bathe  herself  in  its  waters.     She  knew  perhaps  the 
character  and  circumstances  of  the  princess,  who,  according  o 
Artapanus.  and  Philo,'  was  married,  childless,  and  extremely 
desTurof  having  children.     She  would  PJ-e  h-l,,ld  m  this 
princess's  way,  in  such  a  manner  as  would  natuially  excite  her 
comp'ss  on    and  would  trust  that  the  compassion  so  aroused 
mi  r  lead  her  to  extend  her  protection  over  the  unfortunate 
infant     A  princess  might  venture  on  steps  that  no  one  of  in- 
feHor  rank  would  dare  to  take;  and  might  be  able  confidently 
to    cunt  on  her  father's  pardoning  her  indiscretion.     To  bring 
her  Chi  d  to  the  princess's  notice,  Moses's  mother  constructed  a 
mtle  'ark,»  or  boat,  "  of  bulrushes "->...  of  the  papyrus,  and, 
ha  tn/made  it  waterproof  by  means  of  a  coating  of  bitumen 
she  put  her  child  in  it,  carried  him  to  the  water's  edge,  and  lad 
the  ark  gently  among  the  flags  that  grew  along  the  stream  near 
ts  br  nU.     The  pap;rus  was  commonly  used  as  a  material  for 
bL'lin  Egypt,  and  was  regarded  as  a  protection  agamstcroco- 

U       M    D.ocrv      Fv    ••    lY      27  2"  Vit.    MOSIS,'      1.4. 

«  Ap.  Luseb.  "  Picep.  t-v.    ix.  27. 

3 


l8  MOSES. 

dilec,  though  it  may  be  doubted  whether  this  belief  was  any- 
thing but  a  superstition.  The  little  boat  was  laid  among  the 
flags  to  prevent  it  from  floating  down  the  stream,  and  keep  it 
within  sight  of  the  place  where  the  princess  was  accustomed  to 
bathe.  The  time  at  which  she  would  arrive  could  not  be  exactly 
calculated,  and,  had  the  ark  been  allowed  to  move  with  the 
current,  it  might  have  floated  off  long  before  she  made  her  ap- 
pearance. Miriam,  Moses's  sister,  was  set  to  watch  the  ark 
until  the  princess  should  arrive,  that  no  one  might  interfere  with 
it,  or  thrust  it  out  further  into  the  stream. 

The  scheme,  skilfully  contrived,  was  effectively  carried  out, 
and  had  a  complete  success.  Pharaoh's  daughter,  Thermuthis, 
if  we  accept  the  tradition  of  Josephus,*  or  Merrhis,  if  we  prefer 
to  follow  Artapanus,  came  down  with  a  long  train  of  maidens 
about  the  time  expected,  and  proceeded  along  the  river  bank  to 
the  bathing-place.  On  her  way,  she  espied  the  ark  among  the 
flags,  and  sent  hv.r  chief  attendant  to  draw  it  out  of  the  water, 
and  bring  it  to  her,  that  she  might  see  what  it  contained.  On 
opening  it,  for  it  was  covered  up,  "she  saw  the  child  ;  and 
behold,  the  babe  wept."  Hungry  perhaps,  or  chilled  by  near 
proximity  to  the  water,  or  frightened,  as  young  children  so  often 
are  when  left  alone,  the  poor  babe  was  bemoaning  its  lot,  and 
had  given  way  to  tears.  The  heart  of  the  princess  was  at  once 
stirred  with  pity.  Something  in  the  surroundings  or  in  the  look 
of  the  infant  caused  her  to  divine  the  truth,  and  she  exclaimed, 
"This  is  one  of  the  Hebrews'  children."  No  mother  would 
have  deserted  and  exposed  such  a  child  who  was  not  compelled 
to  do  so  by  some  dire  necessity  (such  would  be  her  thoughts). 
Was  there  any  such  necessity  laid  upon  any  mothers  at  the 
time  ?  Ah  !  yes.  Her  own  father's  edict  had  gone  forth  against 
the  male  children  of  the  Hebrews,  and  Hebrew  mothers 
throughout  the  land  were  everywhere  in  the  direst  straits — 
must  be  everywhere  seeking  if  by  any  means  they  could  preserve 
or  prolong  the  lives  of  their  newly-born  sons.  Evidently,  the 
child  belonged  to  this  class.  Complexion,  tint  of  hair,  cast  of 
countenance,  unusual  features  in  the  attire  or  in  its  arrangement, 
may  have  in  an  instant  caught  her  eye,  and  strengthened  her 
conviction  ;  but  her  conviction  did  not  change  her  purpose. 
Miriam  saw  the  look  of  favour  with  which  she  still  regarded  the 
babe,  and  coming  forward  at  the  right  moment,  cried  out, 
*  "Ant.  Jud."  ii.  9,  §  5. 


HIRTll    OF   MOSES.  ^9 

«  Shall  I  go  and  call  to  thee  a  nurse  of  the  Hebrew  women,  that 
She  may  nurse  the  child  for  thee  ?"  A  Hebrew  chdd,  she  meant 
tosav,must  surely  need  a  Hebrew  nurse,  to  ^^^^^^-^^      '/" 
conform  herself  to  its  ways,  to  know  how  it  ^^'^^  ^f  '^'^'J 
should  be  treated  during  infancy,  how  it  should  be  fed,  dressed 
played  with,  dandled,  tossed,  talked  to.     And  the  princess    dt 
Uie  excellency  of  the  suggestion.     ''  Go,"  sne  replied,  with  the 
simple   brevity   characteristic  of  the  antique  manners,      Go. 
The   one   word   was   enough.     Away   sprang   the  light-footed 
Hebrew  lass  to  fetch  her  mother,  who  was  no  doubt  in  hiding 
near  at  hand,  anxiously  awaiting  the  result  of  the  scheme  which 
she  had  so  cleverly  contrived  ;  and  the  fond  mother  at  once 
came  to  her  daughter's  call,  and  stood  silent  before  the  princess. 
Pharaoh's  daughter,  no  doubt,  carefully  scanned  her  face,  and 
noted  her  general  appearance  ;  then,  seeing  in  both  nothing  bu 
what  was  pleasing  and  suitable,  she  declared  her  will         Take 
this  child  away,"  she  said,  ''  and  nurse  it  for  me,  and  I  wul  give 

thee  thy  wages."  u-r  ^  ^^u;^. 

There  was  much  expressed  in  this  short  speech  Take  this 
child  awav"-^^.  take  it  with  thee  to  thine  own  abode  ;  do  not 
bring  it  after  me  to  my  palace  ;  let  it  have  the  nurture  and 
treatment  which  it  would  have  received  naturally  in  the  paternal 
mansion  ;  "  nurse  it,"  but  "  nurse  it  /or  vie  "-remember,  it  is 
henceforth  mine-mine  as  much  as  if  it  had  been  born  in  my 
household-mine  as  much  as  if  I  had  borne  it  myself-  nurse 
it>r  ;;..,"  and,  at  the  proper  time,  restore  it  to  me,  and  then 
"  I  will  give  thee  thy  wages"-!  will  repay  the  care  and  trouble 
that  has  been  spent  on  my  adopted  son  by  a  suitable  largess. 
Jochebed  "  took  the  child"  and  withdrew,  and  earned  it  to  her 
home,  and  there  "  nursed  it." 

Did  the  princess  suspect  nothing  ?  Did  she  not  see  through 
the  drama  that  had  been  acted  under  her  eyes  ?  Had  Miriam 
seemed  to  her  nothing  but  an  ordinary  passer-by  ?  Unmteres ted 
in  the  events,  except  as  a  stranger  might  be  interested  in  what 
was  intrinsically  so  pathetic  ?  Did  she  fail  to  note  any  eager- 
ness in  Jochebed's  tones  or  glances,  or  anything  peculiar  in  her 
handling  of  the  child  when  it  was  put  into  her  arms,  any  con- 
vulsive clutch,  or  tender  pressure,  or  long  Hngenngkiss?  Surely, 
the  mother  could  scarcely  have  contained  herself  when  she  saw 
her  child  rescued  from  impending  death,  rendered  safe  and 
secure  under  the  patronage  of  a  great  princess,  and  once  more 


20  MOSES. 

entrusted  to  her  own  loving  care.  The  deep  thrill  of  delight 
which  must  have  passed  through  her  maternal  heart  can 
scarcely  have  failed  to  paint  itself  on  her  countenance,  even  if 
it  did  not  find  a  vent  in  word  or  action,  in  exclamation  of  "  God 
be  thanked,"  or  convulsive  embrace,  or  warm  kiss,  or  tears  of 
joy.  To  us  it  seems  almost  impossible  that  the  princess  did  not 
thoroughly  comprehend  the  whole  scene,  the  relation  of  the 
parties  each  to  each,  the  clever  arrangements  that  had  been 
made  by  mother  and  daughter  to  carry  out  their  scheme,  &c., 
and  lend  herself  to  the  satisfactory  completion  of  the  business. 
Of  course,  it  was  necessary  to  dissemble.  A  daughter  of  the 
reigning  sovereign  could  not  openly  admit  that  she  was  en- 
couraging and  assisting  one  of  her  fathers  subjects  to  disobey 
her  father's  commands.  The  princess  therefore  kept  her  own 
counsel  and  affected  not  to  recognize  the  positions  of  the  several 
actors  in  the  drama,  while  she  did  her  best  to  carry  out  their 
wishes  and  designs.  She  let  the  mother  have  her  child  to  suckle 
till  the  natural  time  for  weaning  him  arrived,  while  enabling  her 
to  meet  all  inconvenient  inquiries  with  the  reply,  that  it  was 
the  princess's  adopted  child,  which  she  had  been  hired  to  nurse 
during  his  infancy. 


CHAPTER    III. 

MOSES'S    CHILDHOOD. 


Name  given  to  the  saved  child-His  early  life  at  the  Court-Tmpressions 
made  on  him  by  his  surroundings-His  intercourse  with  his  own  lamily 
—Story  told  of  his  trampling  on  the  Pharaoh's  crown— His  beauty, 
spirit,  and  inteUigence. 

The  name  which  Moses  received  has  been  variously  explained. 
An  Egyptian  root,  mes  or  meses,  is  common  as  an  element  m 
names  where  it  has  the  force  of  "son"  or  "child,"  as  in  Aahmes, 
"child  of  the  moon,"  Ramesses,  "child  of  the  sun,"  Amonmesor 
Amonmeses,  "  child  of  Ammon,"  and  the  like.  Strictly  speakmg, 
the  word  orobably  means  "  born  from,"  or  "  sprung  from,"  and 
is  equivalent  of  the  Latin  words  natus,  ortus,  satics,  &c.  Etymo- 
lo-ically  it  perhaps  signified  "  drawn  out,"  and  referred  to  the 
ac't  of  deliverance  by  a  midwife.     It  has  been  thought  that  this 
word  "  meses"  was  the  real  name  which  the  Egyptian  princess 
gave  to  her  foundhng,  and  that  in  giving  it  she  only  meant  to 
recognise  him  as  her  "child."     Josephus,  however,  supplies  an 
entirely  different  account.     According  to  him,  the  meaning  ot 
the  word  "  Moses  "  is  "  saved  from  the  water,"  the  first  syllable 
vio,  moaning,  "water"  in  Egyptian,  and  the  remamder  of  the 
word,  ses,  or  uses,  meaning  "  saved."  '    The  derivation  has  in  its 
favour  the  fact,  that  mo-ushe  would  in  Coptic  have  the  meaning 
assi-ned,  and  the  further  fact  that  one  of  the  words  for  water 
in  the  ancient  Egyptian   was  certainly  mo.     From  these  two 
accounts  that  suggested  in  Exod.  ii.  lo  wholly  differs    since  it 
makes  the  name  Hebrew,  and  derives  it  from  the  Hebrew  root 
«  "Ant.  Jud."  ii.  9'  ^  ^ 


22  MOSES. 

mdshdh^  "  to  extract,  draw  forth."  Philo  Judseus  appears  to  have 
taken  much  the  same  view  as  Josephus  ;  but  he  is  less  exact, 
since  he  gives  the  word  one  root  only,  instead  of  two,  and  mis- 
represents that  one,  declaring  that  the  Egyptian  word  for  water 
was  7Jids^  which  it  certainly  was  not.  Altogether,  it  is  perhaps 
most  probable  that  Josephus  gave  the  true  account,  and  that 
"Moses" — more  correctly  Moyses,  as  in  the  Septuagint Version, 
or  Moysus,  as  in  Artapanus  ^ — meant  "  taken  from  the  water," 
and  thus  the  name  which  he  bore  commemorated  the  circum- 
stances under  which  the  great  prophet  was  saved  by  the  princess. 

Transferred  from  the  humble  abode  of  his  father  to  the  palace 
of  the  princess,  Moses  was  brought  up  in  the  Egyptian  fashion. 
As  a  child,  he  probably  went  about,  like  other  Egyptian  boys, 
without  clothes,  and  with  his  hair  shaved  off,  except  a  single  lock, 
which  depended  on  one  side  of  the  head.  He  would  be  waited 
on  by  numerous  attendants,  would  be  carefully  and  delicately 
fed,  kept  scrupulously  clean,  and  taught  the  refined  manners  of 
the  highest  circles.  His  main  life  would  be  a  Court  life.  He 
would  live  chiefly  in  the  apartments  of  his  mother,  which  would 
probably  be  a  portion  of  the  royal  residence,  and  would  be  fur- 
nished with  every  luxury.  At  first  his  attendants  would  be  his 
mother's  handmaids  ;  but  ere  long  the  assistance  of  male  in- 
structors would  be  called  in,  and  his  education,  m  the  common 
sense  of  the  word,  would  commence.  But  there  is  an  earlier 
education  than  that  derived  from  instructors.  The  bent  and 
bias  of  a  character  is  often  formed,  is  always  strongly  aifected, 
by  the  individual's  earliest  surroundings,  which  unconsciously 
form  his  mind  and  fashion  his  temper.  The  sights  and  sounds 
presented  to  us  in  infancy  and  early  childhood  sink  into  our 
souls,  and  constitute  a  substratum  upon  which  the  whole  per- 
sonality of  the  man  is  afterwards  built.  What  then  were  those 
that  the  impressible  mind  of  the  young  Moses  first  took  in  from 
the  circumstances  of  his  environment,  while  he  dwelt  with  his 
mother  in  her  portion  of  the  royal  palace  } 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  Court,  at  the  time,  was 
held  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year  at  Memphis.  The 
situation  and  appearance  of  Memphis  have  been  already  dwelt 
upon.  Moses  would  see  from  the  terraces  of  the  royal  resi- 
dence, whither  he  would  be  taken  to  enjoy  the  cool  northern 
breeze  in  the  summer  evenings,  the  great  city  of  Phthah  spread 
^Ap.  Euseb.  "Prasp.  Ev."  ix.  27. 


MOSES'S   CHILDHOOD.  23 

before  him  in  all  its  wenlth  of  architectural  ornament,  in  all  its 
populousncss,  in  all  its  busy  movement  of  trade  and  commerce, 
of  pleasure  and  religion.     Noisy  crowds  would  be  thronging  its 
streets  and  squares,  heavily-laden  vessels  would  be  ascending,' 
and  descending  its  mighty  river,  bright  painted  sails  would  be 
glassing  themselves  in  the  calmer  reaches  of  the  stream,  boats 
would  be  darting  about,  here  and  there  processions  with  sacred 
arks  lifted  up  on  high  would  be  wending  their  way  through  the 
temple  precincts  or  through  the  streets  of  the  town,  strains  of 
music  would  be  floating  in  the  air,  mixed  with  shouts  and  cries 
of  all  kinds  from  chariot-drivers,  and  vendors  of  wares,  and 
boatmen.     Against  the  orange  glow  still  lighting  up  the  western 
sky  would  be  seen,  silhouetted  in  sharpest  outline,  the  purple 
forms  of  the  "Three  Great  Pyramids,"  grand  monuments,  the 
tombs  of  mighty  kings,  sentinels  on  the  edge  of  that  broad  desert 
tract,  where  life  ceased  and  the  kingdom  of  the  dead  began. 
The  vastness  of  the  scene  around  would  necessarily  impress  any 
intelligent  boy  with  a  sense  of  awe,  of  wonder,  and  of  mystery  ; 
the  life  and  movement  of  the  city  would  arouse  curiosity  and  the 
desire  to  be  up  and  doing  ;  the  contrast  between  the  city's  stir 
and  the  still  silence  of  the  v.estern  ridge  would  evoke  uneasy 
thoughts,  and  perhaps  bring  the  riddle  of  existence  before  the 
just  av/akening  mind. 

As  he  grew  older,  the  boy's  acquaintance  with  Memphis,  and 
the  life  within  its  walls,  would  increase.    He  would  be  taken  into 
the  streets,  probably  in  a  wheeled  vehicle,  and  would  see  near 
at  hand  the  moving  crowd,  which  he  had  hitherto  contemplated 
from  a  distance.     He  would,  perhaps,  occasionally  be  allowed  a 
sail  in  a  p'easure-boat  upon  the  river.     He  would  be  taken  to 
the  great  Temple  of  Phthah,  and  shown  the  mysterious  figures 
upon  the  walls,  and  the  strange  hieroglyphic  writing,  covering 
almost  every  space  from  which  the  figures  were  absent  ;  and  the 
broad   courts,  and  the  solemn  corridors,  and  the  calm   Oi^irid 
images,  and  perhaps  an  imnge  of  Phthah,  grotesque  and  hideous. 
Processions  of  priests,  clad  in  white  garments  of  linen  or  cotton, 
and   wearing    sandals  made   of   the    papyrus   plant,    chanting 
litanies  to  Phthah  or  Ra,  would  meet  him  in  the  courts,  and 
compel  him  and  his  attendants  to  stand  aside  for  them  to  pass. 
Or  he  would  see  the  priests  oiVering  sacrifices  and  prayers,  or 
pouring  libations,  to  the  images  ;  or  burning  incense  before  them, 
in  their  honour.     Now  and  then  he  might  meet  the  sacred  bull, 


24  MOSES. 

Apis,  as  he  was  called,  being  led  in  a  festive  procession  through 
the  main  streets  of  the  town,  that  the  inhabitants  might  see  him, 
and  come  forth  from  their  dwellings,  and  make  obeisance  to 
the  incarnation  of  Phthah.  The  Egyptian  religion  delighted  in 
openly  manifesting  itself,  in  setting  itself  everywhere  and  at  all 
times  before  the  eyes  of  the  people,  in  challenging  and  compel- 
ling their  attention.  All  the  grandest  edifices  were  temples  ; 
next  to  the  king,  the  persons  most  considered  were  the  priests  ; 
religious  festivals,  involving  great  gatherings  and  long  proces- 
sions, were  frequent  ;  men,  women,  and  even  children  ^  attended 
them  ;  Moses  must  have  been  early  familiar  with  the  external 
aspect,  at  any  rate,  of  the  Egyptian  worship,  and  must  have 
frequently  witnessed  the  revolting  rites  of  the  prevalent  idolatry. 
But  there  was  another  phase  of  the  early  life  of  Moses  at 
Memphis  of  a  softer  character.  It  is  impossible  to  suppose  that 
the  princess,  who  had  employed  his  mother  to  suckle  him,  at 
once  on  his  adoption  broke  off  the  connection  between  her 
adopted  child  and  his  real  family.  The  princess  did  not,  as 
Philo  imagines,^  pretend  that  he  was  actually  her  son.  His 
fiebrew  origin  was  known,  both  to  himself  (Exod.  ii.  ii)  and  to 
the  Egyptians.3  Must  we  not  conclude  that  the  connection  be- 
tween Moses  and  his  family  was  continued  after  he  became  an 
inmate  of  the  royal  residence,  and  that,  from  time  to  time,  he 
was  taken  to  see  his  relatives,  or  that  they  were  allowed  to 
"ome  and  see  him  at  the  palace.''  Had  Jochebed  been  merely 
Moses's  foster-mother,  she  would  have  been  permitted  a  cer- 
tain familiarity,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the  East.  As  his 
real  mother,  her  claim  was  greater,  and  cannot  have  been  dis- 
allowed. We  must  regard  Moses,  therefore,  as  partly  under  the 
influence  of  the  princess  and  the  Court,  partly  under  that  of  his 
father  and  mother,  his  brother  and  sister,  during  the  whole 
period  of  his  early  residence  in  Egypt.  His  intercourse  with  his 
family  was  of  the  highest  importance,  as  respected  his  religious 
behef  and  his  sympathy  with  his  countrymen.  But  for  it,  he 
would  naturally  have  been  brought  up  a  believer  in  the  Egyptian 
polytheism  and  an  idolater  ;  he  would  probably  have  cared  little 
for  his  "  brethren,"  even  if  he  were  not  ashamed  of  acknow- 
ledging them.  As  it  was,  the  principles  of  the  patriarchal  re- 
ligion were  impressed  upon  him  while  he  was  still  a  child,  and 

«  Herod,  ii.  60.  «  "  Vit.  Mosis."  i.  p.  83. 

3  Joseph.  "  Ant.  Jud."  ii.  9,  §  7. 


MOSES'S  CHILDHOOD.  25 

he  grew  up  a  firm  adherent  of  monotheism,  a  believer  in  the  pro- 
mises made  to  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  a  contemner  of 
idols  and  idolatry.  He  also  kept  touch  with  his  countrymen, 
felt  sorrow  for  their  sufferings,  and  hoped  in  time  to  ameliorate 
their  lot.  Instead  of  being  wholly,  he  was  only  half,  Egyptianized. 
He  had  that  substratum  of  Hebrew  feeling  and  Hebrew  training 
which  fitted  him  to  be  a  leader  of  his  nation,  whose  confidence 
would  never  have  gone  out  to  one  wholly  reared  and  taught  by 
their  oppressors.  ^  y 

According  to  Josephus,  while  Moses  was  still  a  young  child,  i^ 
he  escaped  another  peril  as  great  as  that  which  had  menaced 
him  in  his  infancy.  The  princess,  Thermuthis,  as  he  calls  her, 
had  taken  her  adopted  son  with  her  to  her  father's  apartments, 
wishing  to  exhibit  before  him  the  boy's  beauty  and  cleverness, 
and  with  some  hope  of  inducing  him  to  designate  the  child  as 
his  successor.  She  put  her  treasure  into  her  father's  arms,  with 
a  little  speech,  in  which  she  called  attention  to  his  more  than 
human  loveliness,  and  his  high  and  generous  spirit,  at  the  same 
time  revealing  the  ambitious  hopes  which  she  ventured  to  cherish 
on  his  behalf.  The  monarch,  wishing  to  gratify  her  by  a  show 
of  willingness  to  entertain  her  request,  took  his  crown  off  his 
own  head,  and  put  it  on  the  head  of  the  child  ;  whereupon  the 
child  got  down  from  his  lap,  took  off  the  crown  to  examine  it, 
and  then  placing  it  on  the  ground,  put  his  feet  upon  it  and 
tried  to  stand  up.  A  sacred  scribe,  who,  a  little  before  the  birth 
of  Moses,  had  prophesied  that  a  Hebrew  child  was  about  to  be 
born  who  would  lay  low  the  power  of  Egypt,  happened  to  be 
standing  by,  and,  seeing  what  the  child  had  done,  he  cried  with 
a  loud  voice,  and  said  :  "  This,  O  King,  is  the  child,  whom  the 
gods  told  us  to  kill  for  our  own  security.  See  the  witness  which 
he  bears  to  the  prophecy — he  has  put  thy  sovereignty  beneath 
him,  and  is  trampling  thy  crown  under  his  feet.  Slay  him,  then  ; 
and  cause  the  Egyptians  to  cease  from  their  fears,  and  the 
Hebrews  from  their  hopes."  Thermuthis,  on  hearing  the  speech, 
sprang  to  the  child,  and  snatching  him  up  bore  him  away.  The 
king  declined  to  follow  the  scribe's  advice  ;  and  thus  Moses 
escaped  this  second  danger.' 

There  is  an  allusion  in  this  narrative,  and  elsewhere  impor- 
tant testimony  is  borne,  to  the  extreme  beauty  of  Moses,  not  only 
as  an  infant,  but  as  a  boy  and  youth.     Philo  tells  us  that  his 
*  "Ant.  Tud."  ii.  9,  \.  7. 


26  MOSES. 

appearance  was  at  once  beautiful  and  noble,  full  of  modesty  and 
yet  full  also  of  dignity.^  Josephus  says  that  there  was  no  one, 
however  careless  about  a  child's  looks,  who  was  not  struck  with 
astonishment  at  his  loveliness  on  first  beholding  him.  As  he 
passed  along  the  streets  many  of  those  whom  he  met  would  turn 
their  heads  to  look  after  him,  and  labouring  men  v/ould  forget 
their  occupations  and  stand  to  gaze.^  He  is  also  said  to  have 
been  remarkably  tall  for  his  age,  full  of  spirit,  strong,  and  cap- 
able of  enduring  hard  work.  As  for  his  intelligence,  it  was 
extraordinary,  and  showed  itself  in  every  subject  to  which  his 
attention  was  turned.  The  general  feeling  was  that  there  was 
something  more  than  human  about  the  boy  ;  and  while  the 
Hebrews  took  courage  and  felt  hope  revive  in  their  breasts 
through  the  promise  of  future  greatness  which  they  discovered 
in  him,  the  Egyptians  generally  looked  upon  him  with  an  eye  of 
suspicion,  as  one  whom  they  had  reason  to  dread,  should  he  grow 
to  manhood. 

"  Vit.  Mosis,"  p.  83.  »  "  Ant.  Jud."  ii,  9,  §.  6. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

EDUCATION. 

The  physical  training  of  Moses — Egyptian  athletic  games — Early  instruc- 
tion— Reading  and  writing — Egyptian  writing  involved  a  training  in 
art — Arithmetic — Music  and  rhythm — Later  instruction — University  of 
Heliopolis — Subjects  of  the  University  course — Geometry — Literature 
— Astronomy— Law— Medicine — Philosophy  of  Symbolism — Position 
of  Moses  among  the  students. 

It  would  seem  that  in  Egypt,  as  in  most  civilized  countries, 
education  was  regarded  as  including  a  course  of  training,  both 
for  the  mind,  and  also  for  the  body.  The  Egyptians  had  a 
variety  of  games,  of  which  a  considerable  number  were  gym- 
nastic or  athletic.  One  of  the  chief  of  these  was  wrestling.  The 
monuments  depict  wrestlers  in  all  manner  of  attitudes,  preparing 
to  engage,  taking  their  first  hold,  intertwined,  clutching  at  each 
other's  arms  and  legs,  one  forcing  the  other  to  the  ground,  both 
on  the  ground,  yet  still  continuing  the  struggle.  "  The  two  com- 
batants," says  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson,  "  generally  approached 
each  other,  holding  their  arms  in  an  inclined  position  before  the 
body  ;  and  each  endeavoured  to  seize  his  adversary  in  the 
manner  best  suited  to  his  mode  of  attack.  It  was  allowable  to 
take  hold  of  any  part  of  the  body,  the  head,  neck,  or  legs  ;  and 
the  struggle  was  frequently  continued  on  the  ground,  after  one 
or  both  had  fallen  ;  a  mode  of  wrestling  common  also  to  the 
Greeks,  by  whom  it  was  denominated  Anaclinopale.  I  do  not 
find  that  they  had  the  same  sign  of  acknowledging  their  defeat 
in  this  game  as  the  Greeks,  which  was  by  holding  up  a  finger  in 


28  MOSES. 

token  of  submission  ;  it  was  probably  done  by  the  Egyptians 
with  a  word." ' 

Another  exercise  was  fighting  with  single-sticks.  The  left  arm 
was  defended  by  a  sort  of  shield  strapped  round  it  from  the 
wrist  to  the  elbow,  and  could  thus  be  used  to  turn  off  or  inter- 
cept blows.  The  right  hand  had  the  protection  of  a  basket  or 
guard,  projecting  over  the  knuckles.  The  sticks  employed  were 
somewhat  short,  not  more  than  about  thirty  inches  in  length. 
The  combatants  had  no  defence  for  the  head,  beyond  the  wig 
ordinarily  worn  by  men  of  the  well-to-do  classes  ;  but  it  was 
perhaps  a  law  of  the  game  that  neither  combatant  should  strike 
at  the  head  of  his  adversary. 

The  game  of  ball,  so  much  practised  by  the  Romans,  was 
also  a  favourite  amusement  in  Egypt,  especially  among  females. 
It  consisted,  however,  so  far  as  appears,  simply  in  tossing  the 
ball  and  catching  it,  the  Egyptians  having  nothing  that  resem- 
bled fives,  or  rackets,  or  tennis,  or  hockey.  On  this  subject  Sir  G. 
Wilkinson  tells  us  that  "the  game  of  ball  was  not  confined  to 
children,  or  to  either  sex,  though  the  mere  amusement  of  throw- 
ing and  catching  it  appears  to  have  been  considered  more  par- 
ticularly adapted  to  females.  They  had  different  methods  of 
playing.  Sometimes  a  person  unsuccessful  in  catching  the  ball 
was  obliged  to  suffer  another  to  ride  on  her  back,  who  continued 
to  enjoy  this  post  until  she  also  missed  it — the  ball  being  thrown 
by  an  opposite  party,  mounted  in  the  same  manner,  and  placed 
at  a  certain  distance,  according  to  the  space  previously  fixed  by 
the  players.  .  .  .  Sometimes  they  showed  their  skill  in  catching 
three  or  more  balls  in  succession,  the  hands  occasionally  crossed 
over  the  breast ;  and  the  more  simple  mode  of  throwing  it  up  to 
a  height  and  catching  it,  known  to  the  Greeks  as  urania^  was 
common  in  Egypt.  They  had  also  the  game  described  by  Homer 
as  having  been  played  by  Halius  and  Laodamas  before  Alcinoiis,^ 
in  which  one  party  threw  the  ball  as  high  as  he  could,  and  the 
other,  leaping  up,  caught  it  on  its  fall,  before  his  feet  again 
touched  the  ground."  3 

A  game,  in  which  strength  and  dexterity  were  about  equally 
balanced,  was  one  wherein  two  opponents  contended  in  throw- 
ing knives  or  daggers,  so  as  to  remain  fixed  in  a  block  of  hard 

^  "  Ancient  Egyptians,"  edition  of  1878  ;  vol.  ii.  pp.  72,  73. 

"  Horn.  "  Odyss."  ix.  1.  374. 

3  Wilkinson,  "Ancient  Eg>T)tians,"  vol.  ii.  p.  67. 


EDUCATION.  29 

wood  ;  the  contention  being  which  of  the  two  could  strike  nearest 
to  the  centre,  or  to  the  edge,  as  agreed  beforehand.  One,  where 
strength  alone  was  tested,  consisted  in  lifting  heavy  bags  of 
s:ind,  and  swinging  them  at  arms'  length  over  the  head.  The 
person  who  could  swing  the  heaviest  bag  was  the  victor. 

These,  and  other  games  of  a  similar  character,  were  among 
the  ordinary  amusements  of  children  and  youths  in  Egypt,  and 
were  regarded  as  at  once  promoting  health  by  the  exercise  of 
the  body  and  refreshing  the  mind  by  pleasant  entertainment. 
Moses  would  naturally  be  required  to  take  his  part  in  such 
exercises,  and  that  he  did  so  is  implied  by  Philo,  who  says  that 
he  soon  conceived  a  distaste  for  such  amusements,'  and  showed 
himself  superior  to  them,  preferring  more  serious  occupations. 
It  may  be  doubted,  however,  whether  Philo,  in  thus  writing,  is 
not  rather  following  out  his  own  views  of  how  the  perfect  man 
ought  to  act  in  his  youth,  than  delivering  to  us  any  Egyptian  or 
Jewish  tradition  on  the  subject.  Philo's  leanings  are  towards 
asceticism,  and  he  would  fain  persuade  us  that  the  great  lawgiver 
of  his  nation  held  the  same  views  ;  but  it  is  at  least  doubtful 
whether  he  had  any  trustworthy  authority  for  his  statements. 
IVIoses  is  likely  to  have  been  of  a  serious  turn  as  boy  and  youth  ; 
but  his  Egyptian  instructors  would  regard  the  training  of  the 
body  as  scarcely  less  necessary  than  the  training  of  the  mind, 
and  would  see  that  he  passed  through  the  ordinary  course  of 
gymnastic  exercises,  and  that  his  bodily  vigour  was  as  well 
developed  as  that  of  any  of  his  contemporaries. 

Parallel,  even  with  the  earliest  physical  training,  would  be  a 
certain  amount  of  instruction,  directed  to  the  development  of 
the  intellect.  Like  other  children,  Moses  had  to  begin  by 
learning  to  read  and  write.  In  Egypt  these  accomplishments 
were  not  very  easy  of  acquirement.  The  Egyptians  had  at  the 
time  two  forms  of  writing,  one  known  to  the  Greeks  as  the 
hieroglyphic,  and  the  other  as  the  hieratic.  In  the  hieroglyphic, 
articulate  sounds  were  represented  by  pictures  of  objects,  which 
expressed,  sometimes  letters,  sometimes  syllables,  sometimes 
whole  words,  occasionally  ideas.  The  number  of  the  signs 
used  v.as  very  large,  probably  not  less  than  a  thousand. 
Several  of  them  expressed  more  than  one  sound,  while  one  and 
the  same  sound  was  sometimes  expressed  by  several  symbols. 
To  learn  the  Egyptian  alphabet  was  nearly  as  diiTicult  as  to 
*  "  Vit.  Mosis,'"  p.  83. 


30  MOSES. 

learn  the  Chinese,  and  must  have  occupied  many  months,  if  not 
years.  To  read,  it  was  necessary  to  know,  not  only  what 
articulations  each  symbol  had,  but  which  of  them  was  appropri- 
ate in  the  connection  in  which  each  symbol  occurred.  Writing 
was  still  more  difficult  ;  for  as  all  the  signs  were  objects,  it  was 
necessary,  in  order  to  write,  to  be  able  to  draw  a  vast  variety 
of  objects  with  distinctness  and  accuracy.  Among  the  most 
ordinary  characters  were  the  eagle,  which  expressed  aj  the 
owl,  which  expressed  m;  the  chicken,  which  expressed  ic;  the 
duck,  which  expressed  sa;  the  hawk,  which  expressed  har  j  and 
the  vulture,  which  expressed  inut.  Hieroglyphic  writing,  to  be 
intelligible,  had  to  mark  unmistakably  which  bird  was  meant, 
out  of  these  many  ;  and  indeed  there  were  others  also  in  the 
hieroglyphic  list,  as  the  swallow  and  the  ibis.  Animals  had  to 
be  drawn  with  equal  frequency,  as  the  lion,  the  wild-goat,  the 
ox,  the  crocodile,  the  jackal,  the  hare.  It  has  been  well 
observed  by  Mr.  R.  S.  Poole,  that  to  write  Egyptian  required 
"  a  training  in  art."  ^  Some  training  of  the  kind  was  requisite 
in  all  cases,  but,  in  the  case  of  those  who  were  receiving  the 
best  education,  much  more  was  necessary ;  for  they  were 
expected  to  "  draw  beautifully,"  depicting  each  bird,  and 
animal,  and  insect,  and  flower,  with  a  firm  sure  hand,  rapidly 
and  artistically.  Nor  was  the  other  form  of  writing  known  to 
the  Egyptians  in  the  age  of  Moses  much  easier  of  acquisition. 
The  hieratic  was  a  cursive  writing  based  on  the  hieroglyphic, 
and  scarcely  to  be  learnt  or  read  apart  from  it.  Whether  a 
knowledge  of  it  was  included  in  the  general  scheme  of  a  liberal 
education,  is  unknown  to  us.  But  even  if  it  were,  the  student's 
burthen  would  not  have  been  much  lightened,  for  the  hieratic 
forms  are  not  less  numerous  than  the  hieroglyphic,  and  in 
many  cases  so  closely  resemble  each  other  as  to  lead  to  infinite 
difficulty  and  confusion. 

It  is  said  that,  about  the  time  of  Moses,  another  language 
besides  Egyptian  was  taught  to  students.  "  The  documents  of 
the  sci  ibes  of  that  age  not  only  show  by  their  accurate  trans- 
literation of  Semitic  words  that  the  writers  had  a  mastery  of  the 
foreign  sounds  they  wrote  ;  but  more  than  this,  it  was  the 
faslrion  at  this  time  to  introduce  Semitic  words  into  the  Egyp- 
tian language."^  As  all  educated  Romans  in  the  days  of  Cicero 
learnt  Greek,  and  all  Russians  in  the  time  of  Alexander  I.  were 
*  R.  Stuart  Poole,  "  Cities  of  Egypt,"  p.  141.  ^  Ibid.  p.  142. 


EDUCATION.  31 

taught  French,  so  in  the  days  of  Moses  all  educated  Egyptians 
had  to  be  familiar  with  a  Semitic  dialect,  which,  if  not  exactly 
Hebrew,  was  at  any  rate  closely  akin  to  it.  Here  Moses  must 
have  had  an  advantage  over  his  Egyptian  contemporaries,  for 
Hebrew  was  his  mother  tongue,  which  he  had  begun  to  speak 
before  his  mother  gave  him  back  to  the  princess,  and  had 
thenceforth  used  in  his  intercourse  with  the  members  of  his 
family. 

After  reading  and  writing,  or  rather  in  conjunction  with  them, 
long  before  they  were  fully  mastered,  would  come  arithmetic. 
A  knowledge  of  numbers,  to  a  certain  extent,  is  needed  for  the 
common  business  of  life.  The  Egyptians  were  good  arithme- 
ticians. They  invented  the  signs,  which  we  call  Arabic,  and 
which  we  still  use,  for  one,  two,  three,  and  four  ;  they  carried 
numeration  as  far,  at  any  rate,  as  millions  ;  our  common  multi- 
plication table  is  thought  to  have  been  of  Egyptian  origin.* 
They  dealt  not  only  with  whole  numbers,  but  with  fractions,  for 
which  they  had  a  peculiar  notation,  and  which  they  added  or 
subtracted  without  difficulty.  The  higher  operations  of  arith- 
metic were  probably  unknown  to  them  ;  and  it  may  be  suspected 
that  they  indulged  in  mystical  speculations  on  the  virtues  and 
qualities  of  particular  numbers,  which  were  purely  fanciful  and 
incapable  of  leading  to  any  useful  result. 

Philo  says,^  that  among  the  early  acquirements  of  Moses  was 
a  knowledge  of  music,  both  vocal  and  instrumental,  of  harmony, 
and  of  rhythm.  That  the  Hebrews  had  some  musical  knowledge 
when  they  quitted  Egypt  is  apparent  from  the  account,  which  is 
given  in  Exodus  xv.,  of  Miriam,  and  the  women  who  were  her 
companions,  after  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea.  That  Moses 
was  skilled  in  rhythm  is  evident,  both  from  his  "song"  in 
the  same  chapter,  and  from  the  splendid  poem  which  occupies 
the  greater  part  of  Deut.  xxxii.  There  is  thus  no  reason  to 
question  Philo's  assertion,  which  may  have  been  derived  from 
tradition,  or  possibly  from  his  knowledge  of  the  general  plan  of 
education  among  the  ancient  Egyptians.  Music  was  certainly 
known  and  practised  in  Egypt  from  a  very  remote  period.  In 
ancient  tombs  near  the  Pyramids,  probably  belonging  to  about 
the  time  of  their  construction,  we  see  bands  of  five,  six,  and 
even  eight  performers,  some  of  whom  sing,  while  others  play 

*  Wilkinson,  "Ancient  Egyptians,"  vol.  ii.  p.  492. 
'  "  Vit.  Mosis,"  1.  s.  c. 


32  MOSES. 

upon  various  instruments.  The  harp,  the  Ij're,  the  flute,  the 
double  pipe,  the  guitar,  and  the  tambourine  are  the  instruments 
most  frequently  represented.  No  Egyptian  musical  scores 
have  come  down  to  us  ;  and  it  is  thus  impossible  to  say  what 
were  the  ideas  prevalent  on  the  subject  of  harmony,  or  of 
melody  ;  but  perhaps,  if  their  ideas  were  ascertained,  we  should 
not  find  them  to  be  very  different  from  our  own. 

The  proficiency  of  Moses  in  rhythm,  to  which  Philo  testifies, 
and  of  which  his  works  give  evidence,  was,  doubtless,  in  the 
main,  derived  from  a  knowledge  of  the  Egyptian  poetry.  The 
Egyptians  were  great  lovers  of  song.  Almost  all  workmen  sang 
at  their  tasks ;  and  at  the  vintage  and  the  harvest-time  there 
were  specially  favourite  melodies,  which  rang  through  the  air 
in  the  country  districts,  and  were  probably  known  to  every 
one.  Epic  poems  recorded  the  exploits  of  monarchs  ;  lyrical 
songs  declared  the  praises  of  the  gods  ;  dirges  were  recited 
at  funerals,  merry  roundelays  at  feasts.  We  may  gather  from 
Philo  that  something  like  a  scientific  study  of  rhythm  was  a 
part  of  the  education  of  boys,  who  were  inducted  into  the 
mysteries  of  the  various  Eg}'ptian  metres,  as  our  own  youth 
are  into  the  intricacies  of  sapphics  and  iambics,  of  alcaics, 
asclepiads,  and  hendecasyllables. 

The  boyish  education  of  Moses  was  most  likely  conducted  at 
the  Court,  under  a  paedagogue  or  tutor,  assisted  by  various 
masters  ;  but  as  he  approached  towards  manhood,  he  would  be 
sent  to  one  of  the  two  great  universities.  No  otherwise  could 
he  have  become  "learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians" 
(Acts  vii.  22)  ;  no  otherwise  would  his  training  have  befitted  his 
rank  and  station.  The  seats  of  learning  at  the  time  were 
Heliopolis  and  Hermopolis,  the  one  on  the  eastern  verge  of  the 
Delta,  about  twenty  miles  north  of  Memphis  ;  the  other  in  the 
lower  Nile  valley,  half-way  between  Memphis  and  Thebes.  The 
tradition  says  that  Heliopolis  was  the  university  chosen.  It 
was  much  nearer  to  Memphis  than  Hermopolis,  and  would  have 
a  special  attraction  for  any  Hebrew  youth  from  the  connection 
between  its  priestly  house  and  the  patriarch  Joseph  (Gen.  xli. 
45).  Heliopolis,  or  On,  was  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  the 
Egyptian  cities,  and  was  famous  on  two  accounts — it  was  a 
great  seat  of  learning,  and  it  was  the  principal  centre  of  the 
worship  of  the  sun.  The  description  of  it  given  by  Dean 
Stanley  is  so  graphic  that  we  shall  venture  to  transfer  it  to  our 


EDUCATION.  33 

pages.  "  It  stands  on  the  edge  of  the  cultivated  ground.  The 
vast  enclosure  of  its  brick  walls  still  remains,  now  almost  pow- 
dered into  dust,  but,  according  to  the  tradition  of  the  Septuagint, 
the  very  walls  built  by  the  Israelite  bondmen.  Within  the 
enclosu''e,  in  the  space  now  occupied  by  tangled  gardens,  rose 
the  great  Temple  of  the  Sun,  which  gave  its  name  and  object 
to  the  city.  How  important  in  Egypt  was  that  worship  may 
be  best  understood  by  remembering  that  from  it  were  derived 
the  chief  names  by  which  kings  and  priests  were  called — 
*Pha-raoh,'  '  The  Child  of  the  Sun,' '  '  Po-ti-phe-rah,"  The  Ser- 
vant of  the  Sun.'  And  what  its  aspect  was  in  Heliopolis  may 
be  known  partly  from  the  detailed  description  which  Strabo  has 
left  of  its  buildings,  as  still  standing  in  his  own  time  ;  and  yet 
more  from  the  fact  that  the  one  Egyptian  temple  which  to  this 
day  retains  its  sculptures  and  internal  arrangements  almost 
unaltered,  that  of  Ipsambul,  is  the  temple  of  Ra,  or  the  Sun. 
In  Heliopolis,  as  elsewhere,  was  the  avenue  of  sphinxes  leading 
to  the  great  gateway,  where  flew,  from  gigantic  flagstaffs,  the 
red  and  blue  streamers.  Before  and  behind  the  gateway  stood, 
two  by  two,  the  petrifactions  of  the  sun-beam,  the  obelisks, 
of  which  one  alone  now  remains  to  mourn  the  loss  of  all  its 
brethren.  Close  by  was  the  sacred  Spring  of  the  Sun,  a  rare 
sight  in  Egypt,  and  therefore  the  more  precious,  and  probably 
the  original  cause  of  the  selection  of  this  remote  corner  of  Egypt 
for  so  famous  a  sanctuary.  This,  too,  still  remains,  almost 
choked  by  the  rank  luxuriance  of  the  aquatic  plants  which  have 
gathered  over  its  waters.  Round  the  cloisters  of  the  vast  courts 
into  which  these  gateways  opened,  were  spacious  mansions, 
forming  the  canonical  residences,  if  one  may  so  call  them,  of 
the  priests  and  professors  of  On  :  for  Heliopolis,  we  must 
remember,  was  the  Oxford  of  ancient  Egypt,  the  seat  of  its 
learning  in  ancient  times  ;  the  university,  or  perhaps  rather  the 
college,  gathered  round  the  Temple  of  the  Sun,  as  Christ 
Church  round  the  old  cathedral  or  shrine  of  S.  Frideswide.  .  .  . 
In  the  centre  of  all  stood  the  Temple  itself  Over  the  portal, 
we  can  hardly  doubt,  was  the  figure  of  the  Sun -god,  not  in  the 
sublime  indistinctness  of  his  natural  orb,  nor  yet  in  the  beautiful 
impersonation  of  the  Grecian  Apollo,  but  in  the  strange  gro- 
tesque form  of  the  hawk-headed  monster.      Enter  :    and  the 

*  This  derivation  is  now  questioned,  that  of  Per-ao,  "  the  Great  House," 
.being  preferred. 

4 


34  MOSES. 

dark  temple  opens  and  contracts  successively  into  its  outer- 
most, its  inner,  and  its  innermost  hall  ;  the  Osirid  figures  in 
their  placid  majesty  support  the  first,  the  wild  and  savage 
exploits  of  kings  and  heroes  fill  the  second,  and  in  the 
furthest  recess  of  all,  underneath  the  carved  figure  of  the 
Sun-god,  and  beside  the  solid  altar,  sate  in  his  gilded  cage 
the  sacred  hawk,  or  lay  crouched  upon  his  purple  bed  the 
sacred  black  calf,  Mnevis  or  Urmer  ;  each  the  living,  almost 
incarnate,  representation  of  the  deity  of  the  temple.  Thrice 
a  day  before  the  deified  beast  the  incense  was  offered,  and 
once  a  month  the  solemn  sacrifice."  ^ 

There  are  reasons  for  questioning  the  latter  part  of  this  de- 
scription. No  sacred  animal  was  housed  in  the  inmost  sanctuary 
of  the  Sun-god  at  Heliopolis,  since  that  sanctuary  was  ordin- 
arily kept  closed,  sometimes  with  a  seal  upon  the  doors.^  The 
animals,  of  which  there  were  several,  must  have  occupied 
some  other  position,  and  most  probably  had  their  separate 
houses,  in  diff'erent  parts  of  the  precinct.  Besides  the  black 
bull,  Mnevis,  there  were  maintained  in  the  temple  a  lion  and 
lioness,  a  cat,  and  a  specimen  of  the  bennu,  a  kind  of  crane, 
which  was  regarded  as  representing  the  mythical  phoenix, 
Heliopolis  was  the  locality  to  which  especially  belonged  the 
phoenix  legend.  The  bird  came  from  Arabia  once  in  five  hun- 
dred years,  carrying  the  body  of  his  father  enclosed  in  a  ball  of 
myrrh,  and  deposited  it  in  the  Temple  of  the  Sun.  In  form  he 
much  resembled  the  eagle  ;  but  his  plumage  was  in  part  red,  in 
part  golden.3  Herodotus  remarks,  with  some  naivete^  that  he 
had  nevei  seen  him — a  privation  which,  however,  he  must  have 
shared  with  other  travellers. 

We  have  no  picture  of  university  life  in  Heliopolis,  either  in 
the  time  of  Moses  or  at  any  other  period  ;  but  we  have  some 
knowledge  of  the  character  of  the  instruction  which  was  there 
imparted  to  students.  Geometry  was  certainly  taught.  The 
science  originated  in  Egypt,  where  it  was  a  primary  necessity 
on  account  ot  the  fact  that  every  year  the  inundation  obliterated 
many  of  the  landmarks  and  made  a  fresh  mensuration  and  de- 
marcation of  properties  imperative.  The  mensuration  of  land 
led  on  to  general  surveys,  which  could  scarcely  be  executed 
except  trigonometrically,  and  the  science  ol  trigonometry  must, 

*  "  Lectiires  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  pp.  87-90. 

2  "  Records  of  the  Past,''  vol.  ii.  p.  98.  3  Herodotus,  ii.  73. 


EDUCATION.  35 

therefore,  it  would  seem,  have  been  cultivated  to  some  extent.' 
If  the  intended  height  of  a  pyramid  was  determined  from  the 
first,  the  angle  of  the  slope  of  the  sides  might  be  definitely 
fixed  by  trigonometrical  calculation,  but  scarcely  otherwise. 
The  higher  branches  of  mathematics  were,  of  course,  unknown 
to  the  Egyptians  ;  and  even  geometry  was  but  little  elaborated 
until  the  time  of  Euclid.  It  is  noticeable,  however,  that  the 
Greek  who  tirst  did  much  for  go  )metry  was  an  Alexandrian 
Greek,  and  the  suspicion  arises  that  he  may  have  derived  much 
of  his  improved  science  from  Egyptian  sources. 

Other  branches  of  knowledge  cultivated  and  taught  at  Helio- 
polis  in  Moses'  time  were  literature,  especially  poetry,  astro- 
nomy, law,  medicine,  and  "the  philosophy  of  symbols."  It 
was  an  object  with  all  persons  of  the  higher  ranks  in  Egypt  to 
acquire  a  clear  and  elegant  style.  For  this  purpose  the  master- 
pieces of  antiquity,  whether  in  poetry  or  prose,  were  carefully 
studied,  and  composition  was  regularly  practised  under  the 
guidance  of  instructors.  Epistolary  correspondence  was  a 
branch  of  composition  which  received  special  attention,  and  the 
model  letters  of  the  best  authors  were  set  before  the  student  for 
imitation.  It  is  not  clear  whether  the  students  were  practised 
in  composing  poetry  ;  but  on  the  whole  it  is  most  probable  that 
the  curriculum  included  verse  as  well  as  prose  writing. 

The  Egyptians  received  at  an  early  date  some  astronomical 
knowledge  from  the  Babylonians,  and  afterwards  made  con- 
siderable advances  in  the  science  of  astronomy  themselves. 
Astronomy  was  necessary  for  the  construction  of  the  calendar, 
and  was  closely  connected  with  religion.  The  Egyptian  astro- 
nomers succeeded  in  determining,  with  a  near  approach  to 
exactness,  the  solar  year,  which  they  made  to  consist  of  365  j^f 
days.  They  knew  that  the  moon  derived  its  light  from  the  sun, 
that  the  sun  was  the  centre  of  our  system,  and  that  the  revolu- 
tion of  the  earth  upon  its  axis  was  the  cause  of  day  and  night. 
There  was  an  observatory  at  Heliopolis  in  the  time  of  Strabo, 
which  had  probably  come  down  from  a  high  antiquity,  since 
astronomical  observations  were  recorded  on  the  temple  walls  at 
Thebes  at  a  very  remote  period.  The  Egyptians  paid  special 
attention  to  eclipses,  both  of  the  sun  and  the  moon  ;  to  occulta- 

*  Dr.  Birch   says,   "A  geometric  and  arithmetic    papyrus,    now  in  the 
British  Museum,  has  a  portion  devoted  to  the  mensuration  and  triangula 
Hon  of  fields." 


36  MOSES. 

tions  of  the  planets  ;  to  the  motions  of  the  planets,  and  the 
determination  of  their  periodic  and  synodic  times  ;  and  to  the 
construction  of  tables  of  the  fixed  stars  and  the  mapping  of  them 
out  into  constellations.  They  were  acquainted  with  the  obli- 
quity of  the  ecliptic  to  the  equator,  and  found  a  way  of  deter- 
mining an  exact  meridian  line.  It  has  been  supposed  that  they 
were  acquainted  with  the  procession  of  the  equinoxes  ;  but  the 
evidence  on  this  point  is  insufficient.  Altogether  their  astro- 
nomy must  be  pronounced  not  very  advanced,  and  rather  em- 
pirical than  scientific,  rather  practical  than  speculative.  Dr. 
Brugsch  says  of  it  :  "  Astronomy  with  the  Egyptians  was  not 
that  mathematical  science  which  calculates  the  movements  of 
the  stars  through  the  construction  of  grand  systems  of  the 
heavens.  It  was  rather  a  collection  of  the  observations  which 
they  had  made  on  the  periodically  recurring  phenomena  of 
earth  and  sky  in  Egypt,  the  bearings  of  which  upon  each  other 
could  not  long  escape  the  notice  of  the  priests,  who  in  the 
clear  Egyptian  nights  observed  the  brilliant  luminaries  of  their 
firmament.  Their  astronomical  knowledge  was  founded  on  the 
base  of  empiricism,  and  not  on  that  of  mathematical  inquiry."^ 
Such  however  as  their  astronomical  knowledge  was,  the 
students  at  Heliopolis  had  the  benefit  of  it,  and  were  perhaps 
as  much  advanced  in  the  science  as  the  bulk  of  those  who  in 
modern  times  enjoy  the  advantages  of  a  university  training. 

It  is  a  reasonable  conclusion  of  Egyptologists  that  the  prin- 
ciples and  practice  of  law  must  have  been  taught  at  Heliopolis.^ 
The  Egyptians  had  a  large  body  of  written  laws  forming  a  por- 
tion of  some  of  their  sacred  books,  and  believed  to  have  emanated 
originally  from  a  Divine  source.  These  laws  were,  for  the  most 
part,  admirable,  and  were  administered  by  trained  judges,  who 
were  in  no  case  allowed  to  depart  from  them  or  call  them  in 
question,  since  such  conduct  would  have  been  rebellion  against 
the  Deity.  The  kings,  though  despotic  in  the  sense  that  there 
were  no  means  of  calling  them  to  account,  had  not  the  right, 
and  did  not  even  claim  the  right,  of  setting  aside  the  law  ;  and 
the  courts  throughout  the  kingdom  heard  and  decided  ordinary 
causes  without  any  interference  from  any  superior  authority. 
The  class  of  judges  was  large  ;  and  those  who  aimed  at  the 
career  must  have  qualified  themselves  for  it  by  some  previous 

^  "  Histoire  d'Egypte,"  part  i.  p.  39. 

»  R.  Stuart  Poole,  "  Cities  of  Egypt,''  p.  143. 


EDUCATION.  37 

course  of  study.  That  the  place  where  they  studied  was  Helio- 
polis  cannot  be  said  to  be  proved,  but  is,  at  any  rate,  in  the 
highest  degree  probable. 

The  same  must  be  said  with  regard  to  medicine  and  its  sub- 
ordinate science,  chemistry.  Medicine  engaged  the  attention 
of  the  Egyptians  from  the  earliest  ages,  and  was  pursued  with 
ardour  and  success.  The  whole  country  was  subject  to  sanitary 
regulations,  the  kings  themselves  not  being  exempted  from 
obedience  to  them.  Very  ancient  works  on  medicine  existed, and 
were  regarded  with  extreme  respect, being  attributed  cither  to  the 
god  Thoth,  or  to  one  or  more  of  the  ancient  kings.  The  import- 
ance of  anatomy  was  recognized,  and  the  dissection  of  the  human 
subject  allowed  and  practised.  In  the  time  of  Herodotus 
specialism  seems  to  have  prevailed,  and  to  have  been  carried, 
indeed,  to  a  ridiculous  extent,'  but  we  have  no  evidence  that 
this  system  was  followed  in  the  earlier  times.  The  medical 
school  of  Heliopolis  is  not  to  be  taxed  with  any  sanction  of  the 
principle  that  "each  physician  should  treat  only  one  disorder." 

Science,  however,  was  probably  regarded  at  Heliopolis  as  a 
secondary  and  inferior  part  of  education  ;  the  main  object  of 
study  was  religion,  the  full  understanding  of  the  Egyptian 
sacred  books.  The  professors  of  the  university  were  also  the 
priests  of  the  great  temple,  and  the  colleges  of  students  were 
under  their  control,  the  studies  under  their  superintendence. 
The  youths  who  came  to  Heliopolis  with  the  mere  vague  notions 
on  the  subject  of  religion  which  were  to  be  gathered  from 
attendance  in  the  various  temples  and  participation  in  the 
various  festivals,  and  who  must  have  therefore  been,  like  the 
mass  of  the  common  people,  idolaters  and  polytheists,  had  to 
be  taught  by  their  religious  instructors  the  deep  truths  that 
underlay  the  external  popular  religion,  the  realities  shadowed 
forth  by  the  grotesque  imagery  of  hawk-headed,  cow-headed, 
and  ibis-headed  idols,  of  sacred  goats  and  sacred  bulls  and 
sacred  crocodiles,  of  processions  of  the  Boat  of  the  Sun,  of  Osiris 
myths,  of  Nile  worship,  and  the  like.  Philo  says  that  one  of  the 
subjects  in  which  Moses  received  instruction  from  his  Egyptian 
instructors  was  "the  philosophy  of  symbolism  "  ;  and  this  would 
exactly  express  the  enlightenment  which  those  persons  received 
who  passed  from  the  crowd  of  the  uninitiated  and  uninstructed 
into  the  select  number  of  the  fully  instructed  in  religion.  For 
'  See  Herodotus,  ii.  84. 


38  MOSES. 

the  entire  external  aspect  of  the  Egyptian  religion  was  a  com- 
plicated and  multitudinous  symbolism.  "The  various  deities," 
as  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  long  ago  pointed  out/  "were  mere 
emblematic  representations  of  the  One  and  Sole  God  ;  for  the 
priests  who  were  initiated  into,  and  who  understood  the  mys- 
teries of  their  religion,  believed  in  one  Deity  alone,  and,  in  per- 
forming their  adorations  to  any  particular  member  of  their 
Pantheon,  addressed  themselves  directly  to  the  sole  ruler  of 
the  universe,  through  that  particular  form.  Each  form  (whether 
called  Ptah,  Amen,  or  any  other  of  the  figures  representing 
various  characters  of  the  Deity)  was  one  of  His  attributes  ;  in 
the  same  manner  as  our  expressions,  '  the  Creator/  'the  Omni- 
potent,' '  the  Almighty,'  or  any  other  title,  indicate  one  and  the 
same  Being."  Or,  as  I  have  myself  observed  elsewhere,^  "  the 
gods  of  the  popular  mythology  were  understood,  in  the  esoteric 
religion,  to  be  either  personified  attributes  of  the  Deity  or  parts 
of  the  nature  which  He  had  created,  considered  as  informed 
and  inspired  by  Him.  Num  or  Kneph  represented  the  creative 
mind,  Phthah  the  creative  hand,  or  act  of  creating  ;  Maut 
represented  matter,  Ra  the  sun,  Khons  the  moon,  Seb  the  earth, 
Khem  the  generative  power  in  nature.  Nut  the  upper  hemisphere 
of  heaven,  Athor  the  lower  world,  or  under  hemisphere  ;  Thoth 
personified  the  Divine  wisdom,  Ammon  perhaps  the  Divine 
mysteriousness  or  incomprehensibility,  Osiris  (according  to 
some)  the  Divine  goodness.  It  is  difficult  in  many  cases  to 
fix  on  the  exact  quality,  act,  or  part  of  nature  intended  ; 
but  the  principle  admits  of  no  doubt.  No  educated  Egyptian 
priest  certainly,  probably  no  educated  layman,  conceived  of  the 
popular  gods  as  really  separate  and  distinct  beings.  All  knew 
that  there  was  but  One  God,  and  understood  that  when  worship 
was  offered  to  Khem,  or  Kneph,  or  Phthah,  or  Maut,  or  Thoth, 
or  Ammon,  the  One  God  was  worshipped  in  some  one  of  His 
forms,  or  in  some  one  of  His  aspects.  It  does  not  appear  that  in 
more  than  a  very  few  cases  did  the  Egyptian  religion,  as  con- 
ceived of  by  the  initiated,  deify  created  beings,  or  constitute  a 
class  of  secondary  gods  who  owed  their  existence  to  the 
Supreme  God.  Ra  was  not  a  Sun-Deity  with  a  distinct  and 
separate  existence,  but  the  Supreme  God  acting  in  the  sun, 
making  His  light  to  shine  on  the  earth,  warming,  cheering,  and 

^  "Ancient  Egyptians,"  vol.  ii.  p.  476. 

'  "  History  of  Ancient  Egypt,"  vol.  i.  pp.  315,  316. 


EDUCATION.  39 

blessing  it  ;  and  so  Ra  might  be  worshipped  with  all  the  highest 
titles  of  honour,  as,  indeed,  might  any  god,  except  the  very  few 
which  are  more  properly  called  gc?iii^  and  which  corresponded 
to  the  angels  of  the  Christian  system." 

Symbolism  was  the  one  and  only  key  to  the  Egyptian  religion  ; 
but  it  was  a  key  of  a  most  complicated  kind,  and  it  required  a 
long  course  of  instructionHO  enable  the  neophyte  to  use  it  pro- 
perly. It  had  to  be  applied  to  the  animal  worship,  to  the  various 
forms  and  ceremonies  of  the  religion,  to  the  Osirid  myth,  and 
to  the  other  sagas.  There  must  have  been  a  large  field  for  it  in 
the  explanation  of  the  Ritual,  or  Book  of  the  Dead,  which  is 
a  long  composition  of  the  most  obscure  and  mystic  character.^ 
Probably  the  priests  alone,  or  those  who  were  intended  for  the 
priesthood,  pursued  their  study  of  symbolism  to  the  furthest 
possible  point,  so  as  to  understand  exactly  the  esoteric  meaning 
of  each  word  and  phrase  of  the  Ritual.  Ordinary  lay  students 
may  have  been  merely  taught  the  general  principle,  and  left  to 
themselves  to  apply  it.  The  more  curious  and  intelligent  of 
such  students  may  have  been  carried  somewhat  further,  but  are 
not  likely  to  have  been  able  to  devote  to  this  single  study  the 
time  requisite  for  obtaining  a  thorough  mastery  of  it. 

The  question  here  naturally  arises,  whether  Moses  was  among 
the  lay,  or  among  the  priestly,  students.  According  to  some 
authorities,  he  was  an  actual  priest,  and  bore  a  priestly  name  in 
addition  to  his  name  of  Moses,  which,  if  we  trust  Chaeremon,^ 
was  Tisithen,  if  we  trust  Manetho,^  Osarsiph.  But  it  is  scarcely 
conceivable  that  Moses  really  entered  the  Egyptian  priesthood, 
even  if  we  take  the  most  favourable  view  of  the  inner  meaning 
of  the  Egyptian  religion.  The  priests  had  invented,  and  main- 
tained the  outward  polytheism  and  idolatry,  as  the  only  religion 
suitable  to  the  mass  of  the  people  ;  they  inculcated  it  ;  they 
administered  its  rites  ;  they  sanctioned  its  grossness,  its  licen- 
tiousness, its  lowering  and  debasing  materialism.  If  Moses,  as 
we  have  supposed,  learnt  the  religion  of  his  forefathers  from  the 
members  of  his  own  family,  and  adhered  to  it,  even  though  a 
resident  at  the  Pharaoh's  Court,  he  would  necessarily  have 
shrunk  from  the  priestly  office  with  its  responsibilities,  even  if 
the  priests  would  have  been  willing  to  admit  him  to  it.  But, 
according  to  Josephus,"*  there  was  from  first  to  last  an  antagon- 

*  "  History  of  Ancient  Egypt,"  p,  137,        »  Ap.  Joseph.  "  C.  Apion.'*  i.  32 
3  Ibid.  i.  26,  28,  31.  ■♦  "  Ant.  Jud."  ii.  9,  10. 


40  MOSES. 

ism  between  him  and  the  priests,  who  constantly  laid  plots 
against  his  life,  and  were  so  far  from  considering  him  one  of 
tliemselves,  that  they  looked  upon  him  as  a  dangerous  rival  and 
enemy.  We  must  thej-efore  regard  Tyloses  at  Heliopolis  as  a  lay 
student,  not  in  favour  with  the  authorities,  doubtless  admitted 
freely  to  whatever  instruction  was  given  in  secular  subjects,  but 
taught  the  customary  explanations  of  the  established  religious 
practices  and  of  the  sacred  texts  with  some  reserve — perhaps 
obtaining  his  knowledge  of  these  subjects  rather  from  his  fellow 
students  than  the  University  professors. 


CHAPTER  V. 

EARLY  MANHOOD  OF  MOSES. 

Anomalous  position  of  an  adopted  foundling  at  the  Pharaonic  Court- 
Annoyances  to  which  Moses  would  be  subjected — Courses  of  life  which 
would  naturally  be  open  to  him — The  official  life — The  literary  life — 
The  hfe  of  a  soldier  ;  its  attraction  at  the  time — Grounds  for  con- 
cluding that  r  loses  adopted  the  military  life — Training  which  it 
involved — Moses  in  the  Hittite  wars — Account  given  by  Josephus  of 
Moses'  successes  against  the  Ethiopians — The  account  criticized. 

His  university  education  concluded,  Moses  must  have  returned 
to  the  Court,  and  have  resumed  his  position  in  his  mother's 
household.  But  the  question  must  now  have  presented  itself  to 
his  mind,  which  presents  itself  to  almost  all  sooner  or  later. 
What  was  he  to  do  with  his  life,  how  was  he  to  employ  the 
talents  and  the  acquirements  which  were  his  by  nature  and 
training  ?  The  position  of  an  adopted  foundling  at  the  Court 
of  an  Egyptian  king,  and  that  foundling  a  foreigner,  was  an 
anomalous,  and  can  scarcely  have  been  a  pleasant,  one.  The 
threatened  assassinations,  of  which  Josephus  speaks,  are  pro- 
bably fictions,  and  the  extreme  aversion  in  which  Moses  was 
held  by  the  priests  is  no  doubt  exaggerated  ;  but  jealousies,  we 
may  be  sure,  were  awakened  by  the  favour  shewn  to  an  alien 
interloper,  and  an  atmosphere  of  suspicion  and  ill-will  was 
created  around  him.  There  could  be  no  one  among  the 
courtiers  who  would  really  truly  sympathize  with  his  feelings 
when  he  was  vexed  or  hurt,  since  there  was  no  one  who  occupied 
anything  like  the  same  position.  He  may  have  had  some 
hangers-on  and  flatterers,  but  he  can  scarcely  have  had  a  friend. 
The  courtiers  generally  would  look  down  upon  him  on  account 


42  MOSES. 

of  his  birth,  envy  him  in  respect  of  the  high  favour  with  which 
he  was  regarded  by  the  Princess,  and  dislike  him  as  one  who 
m  creed  and  race  and  tone  of  thought  was  quite  different  from 
themselves.  The  result  would  be  a  series  of  slights  and  imper- 
tmences  on  the  part  of  the  jeunesse  doyee  of  the  period,  which 
would  stmg  and  annoy  the  recipient,  without  giving  him  sufficient 
cause  for  serious  complaint  or  remonstrance,  and  these  would 
produce  a  growing  sense  on  Moses'  part  of  injury  and  isolation. 
To  hang  about  the  Court  from  year  to  year  as  a  mere  idler, 
one  of  the  useless  class,  frUi^es  coiisuniere  nati,  must  have 
been  in  any  case  abhorrent  to  a  man  of  the  temperament  ot 
Moses,  and  in  his  peculiar  position  must  have  seemed  to  him 
specially  undesirable.  We  may  assume  that  it  was  not  long 
after  quitting  Heliopolis  that  he  seriously  placed  before  himself 
the  courses  of  life  open  to  him,  and  considered  carefully  their 
several  attractions.  The  most  obvious  life,  to  a  person  circum- 
stanced as  he  was,  would  have  been  the  official  life.  "  Egypt 
swarmed  with  a  bureaucracy — a  bureaucracy  which  was  power- 
ful, numerous,  and  cleverly  arranged  in  such  a  graduated  series, 
that  the  most  bureaucratic  countries  of  the  modern  world  may 
with  reason  be  said  to  have  had  nothing  superior  to  it.^  Partly 
in  the  capital,  partly  scattered  about  the  country,  were  hundreds, 
or  rather  thousands,  of  official  personages,  nomarchs,  toparchs, 
governors  of  towns,  judges,  magistrates,  collectors  of  taxes, 
superintendents  of  storehouses,  treasurers,  registrars,  and  the 
like  ;  all  of  them  receiving  their  appointments  from  the  Crown, 
and  occupying  a  high  and  honourable  position.  Nothing  would 
have  been  easier  for  Moses  than  to  have  asked  the  Princess  who 
had  adopted  him,  to  obtain  for  him  from  the  reigning  Pharaoh, 
her  father  or  her  brother,  one  of  these  civil  appointments,  by 
means  of  which  he  would  have  set  his  foot  on  the  first  rung  of 
the  official  ladder,  and  might  have  risen  through  the  many 
gradations  to  the  highest  rung  of  all.  But  the  official  life,  in 
Egypt  as  elsewhere,  was  probably  monotonous  ;  it  involved, 
during  many  years,  complete  subordination  and  much  unin- 
teresting drudgery  ;  it  may  have  required  an  occasional,  or  a 
constant  acknowledgment,  of  the  idolatry  everywhere  established 
and  maintained  as  the  religion  of  the  State.  Naturally  enough, 
Moses  was  not  attracted  by  it.     Could  he  have  mounted  per 

^  Lenormant,  "  Histoire   Ancienne  de  rOrient,"  vol.  i.   p.   487;    Birch, 
'*  Egypt  from  the  Earliest  Times,"  p.  xix. 


EARLY  MANHOOD   OF  MOSES.  43 

saltum,  like  Joseph,  to  the  highest  place  (Gen.  xli.  39-44),  he 
would  perhaps  have  overcome  his  repugnance,  and  have  become 
a  distinguished  Egyptian  civilian  ;  but  the  prospect  of  toiling 
from  grade  to  grade  did  not  tempt  him,  and  he  decided  that  the 
official  life  would  not  satisfy  his  aspirations. 

The  literary  life  may  next  have  presented  itself  to  his  thoughts. 
It  was,  to  a  considerable  extent,  connected  with  the  official  life, 
to  which  in  a  great  number  of  instances  it  served  as  a  stepping- 
stone.     Proficiency  in  letters  attracted  public  attention,  and  the 
literary  man— the  "  scribe,"  as  he  was  called— often  received 
offers  of  civil  employment,  and  commonly  accepted  them.     But 
literature  was  also  pursued  by  many  as  their  only  occupation, 
and  was  recognized  as  containing  within  itself  many  attractions 
and  delights.      "Love  letters  as  thy   mother,"   says  an  early 
Egyptian  author  ;  "  it  is  a  greater  possession  than  all  employ- 
ments."   And  again—"  Consider  that  there  is  not  an  employment 
destitute  of  superior  ones,  except  the  scribe's,  which  is  the  first." 
The   literary   man   was   held  in  high  honour  ;  he  was  invited 
everywhere,  even  to  the  royal  table.     "  Truly  no  scribe,"  exclaims 
the  writer  above  quoted,  "  is  without  eating  the  things  of  the  royal 
palace  of  the  King." '     Such  men  as  Pentaour,  Anna,  Kakabu, 
Hor,    Amen-em-api,  Bek-en-ptah,    Pan-bas,  not  only  had  the 
entrt^e  to  good  society,  but  lived  on   intimate  terms  with  the 
highest  personages  in  the  land.     Moses,  with  his  great  literary 
talents,  his  strong  if  undeveloped  poetic  powers,  might  well  have 
aspired  to  join  the  noble  company  of  authors,  which  formed  one 
of  the  main  glories  of  the  times  w^herein  he  lived.     But  the 
literary  life  would  have  afforded  no  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his 
practical  energies,  and,  however  respectable,  would  perhaps  at 
the  time  have  scarcely  been  thought  worthy  of  a  scion,  albeit  an 
adopted  one,  of  the  royal  stock.     Moses,  at  any  rate,  was  not 
attracted  by  it.      Though  "  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the 
Egyptians"  (Acts  vii.  22),  he  was  not  content  to  take  up  the 
role  of  a  mere  man  of  learning,  or  to  pass  his  life  in  celebrating 
the  deeds  of  others,  without  doing  anything  which  should  make 
him  worthy  of  being  celebrated  himself. 

But  if  neither  the  literary  life  nor  the  life  of  a  government 

official  was  sufficiently  attractive  to  content  the  aspirations  of 

the  young  Hebrew,  taking  his  first  outlook   upon  the    world 

wherein  he  had  to  play  his  part,  what  other  possibilities  were 

»  "  Records  of  the  Past,"  vol.  viii.  pp.  148,  153,  156. 


z.— — ^*-'' 


44  MOSES. 

there,  what  other  lines  of  occupation  ?  !Merely  professional 
careers,  the  life  of  a  physician,  or  a  lawyer,  or  an  artist,  were 
even  less  eligible  than  those  which  we  have  supposed  him  to 
have  contemplated  and  rejected.  Moses  cannot  be  imagined  to 
have  given  them  so  much  as  a  thought.  Though  of  humble 
birth,  he  held  the  position  of  a  pu-ince,  and  no  occupation  could 
be  suitable  to  him,  which  was  not  recognized  by  public  opinion 
as  princely.  Rank  has  its  obligations.  Royal  Highnesses 
find  but  few  walks  in  life  open  to  them.  They  cannot  accept 
a  metropolitan  practice,  or  become  lawyers  in  a  provincial 
town. 

There  remained,  however,  one  life  which  we  have  not  yet 
passed  under  review — a  life  royal,  princely,  which  the  king 
himself  led.  This  was  the  life  of  a  soldier.  Every  Egyptian 
monarch  of  the  ancient  dynasties  led  out  his  army  in  person, 
and  fought  at  its  head.  Egypt,  since  the  times  of  Apepi  and 
Joseph,  had  been  engaged  in  a  perpetual  series  of  hostilities, 
either  with  neighbouring,  or  with  distant,  nations.  The  Thoth- 
meses  and  Amenhoteps  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty  had  not  been 
content,  hke  former  kings  of  Egypt,  to  defend  their  frontiers, 
repulse  invaders,  and  enlarge  the  limits  of  the  empire  by 
Attaching  to  it  here  and  there  a  small  province.  While  the 
Hebrews  were  quietly  feeding  their  flocks  and  herds  in  Goshen, 
and  growing  from  a  family  into  a  tribe,  and  from  a  tribe  into  a 
nation,  they  had  commenced  a  career  of  aggression,  had  marched 
their  bands  of  disciplined  troops  into  Asia,  had  overrun  and 
conquered  all  Syria  and  Western  Mesopotamia,  had  made  raids 
into  Assyria,  passed  the  Tigris,  plundered  Nineveh,  and  crossed 
swords  with  the  great  Assyrian  monarchs,  who  then  held  their 
Court  at  Kileh-Sherghat,  or  Asshur.  Thothmes  I.  had  begun 
these  distant  conquests.  He  had  marched  an  army  through  Pales- 
tine and  Syria, crossed  the  Euphrates  into  Mesopotamia,engaged 
the  natives  in  a  long  series  of  battles  and  defeated  them  more 
than  once  with  great  slaughter.  Thothmes  I II.,  "  the  Alexander 
of  Egyptian  history,"'  had  not  only  invaded  Syria  and  Western 
Mesopotamia,  but  conquered  them,  had  established  a  strong 
military  post  at  Arban  on  the  river  Khabour,  and  from  this  post 
had  carried  his  arms  across  the  Tigris  into  Assyria  Proper,  and 
forced  the  Assyrian  monarch  to  pay  him  a  tribute.  He  had 
warred  in  Phoenicia,  in  Cilicia,  and  in  Commagene  ;  he  had 
'  Brugsch,  ' '  History  of  Egypt, "  vol.  i.  p.  316. 


EARLY  MANHOOD  OF  IMOSES.  4^5 

collected  a  fleet  and  reduced  Cyprus  ;  he  had  marched  with  his 
troops  from  Nubia  to  the  Taurus  range,  and  from  Cyrcnc  to  beyond 
Nineveh  ;  he  had  borne  off  from  the  subject  countries  ii,ooo 
captives,  1,670  chariots,  3,639  horses,  4,491  of  the  larger  cattle, 
above  35,000  goats,  silver  to  the  amount  of  3,940  pounds,  and  gold 
to  the  amount  of  9,054  pounds,  besides  enormous  quantities  of 
corn  and  wine,  together  with  incense,  balsam,  honey,  ivory, 
ebony,  and  other  rare  woods,  lapis-lazuli  and  other  precious 
stones,  furniture,  statues,  vases,  dishes,  basins,  tent-poles,  bows, 
habergeons,  fruit-trees,  live  birds  and  monkeys.  Amen-hotep 
II.,  son  of  Thothmes  III.,  had,  after  the  death  of  his  father, 
recovered  the  various  countries  subdued  by  him,  which  had 
revolted  on  his  decease.  Other  kings,  notably  Ramesses  I., 
the  founder  of  the  nineteenth  dynasty,  and  Seti  I.,  his  son  and 
successor,  had  contended  in  Asia  with  a  new  enemy,  the  Khita 
or  Hittites,  and  had  won  fame  and  glory  by  their  victories. 
Moses  had,  it  is  probable,  been  growing  up  while  the  later  of 
these  successes  were  being  obtained,  and  had  witnessed  the 
enthusiasm  with  which  Seti  was  welcomed  back  to  Egypt  by 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  his  subjects;  when  he  returned  in 
triumph  from  some  of  his  Asiatic  expeditions.  He  may  have 
heard  the  acclamations  which  greeted  the  victorious  monarch 
as  he  re-entered  his  capital,  and  listened  to  the  first  singing  of 
that  song  of  triumph,  which  was  afterwards  engraved  on  the 
walls  of  the  great  temple  of  Karnak.^ 

"  Pharaoh  is  a  jackal,  which  rushes  leaping  through  the  Hittite  land  ; 
He  is  a  grim  lion,  frequenting  the  hidden  paths  of  all  regions  ; 
He  is  a  powerful  bull  with  a  pair  of  sharpened  horns. 
Pharaoh  has  stricken  the  Asiatics  down  to  the  ground  ; 
He  has  overthrown  the  Khita  ;  he  has  slain  their  princes." 

The  military  glories  of  Egypt,  thus  revived  by  the  monarch  of 
the  time,  and  echoed  from  mouth  to  mouth  among  men  of  all 
ranks  and  stations,  occupying  more  or  less  the  thoughts  of  all, 
and  forming  the  general  subject  of  conversation,  would  naturally 
stir  the  spirit  of  one  so  circumstanced  as  Moses,  and  would 
point  out  to  him  a  path  and  an  occupation,  which  none  could 
regard  as  unworthy  of  him,  which  would  give  employment  to  all 
his  energies,  and  might  lead  to  the  highest  distinction.  Pro- 
motion in  the  Egyptian  army  depended  mainly,  if  not  wholly 
upon  merit.  Moses  would  have  that  self-reliance  which  is 
»  Brugsch,  "  History  of  Egypt,"  vol.  ii.  p.  16. 


46  MOSES. 

characteristic  of  all  truly  great  men  ;  and  he  would  feel  that,  if 
interest  were  needed,  he  would  have  in  his  mother  a  "  friend  at 
Court,"  on  whom  he  might  rely  implicitly.  Thus  the  military 
life  would  present  itself  to  him  in  glowing  colours,  and  he  would 
feel  drawn  to  it,  rather  than  to  any  other. 

Tradition  here  steps  in  and  declares  to  us  that  the  military 
life  was  the  one  actually  adopted  by  Moses,  and  that  it  led  him 
to  the  distinction  which  we  may  be  sure  he  coveted.  Both  Jose- 
phus  and  Artapanus  relate  that,  in  a  great  war,  which  was  waged 
between  Egypt  and  Ethiopia,  IMoses  commanded  the  Egyptian 
army,  and  led  an  expedition  into  Ethiopia,  which  was  crowned 
with  complete  success.  It  seems  impossible  to  suppose  that  the 
story,  however  fanciful  in  its  details,  is  a  pure  fiction.  We  are 
estopped,  moreover,  from  such  a  conclusion  by  the  fact  that 
St.  Stephen,  speaking  before  the  Sanhedrim,  mentioned  it  as  a 
thing  generally  known,  that  Moses,  before  casting  in  his  lot  with 
his  own  nation,  "  was  mighty  in  words  and  in  deeds "  (Acts 
vii.  22).  A  private  individual  could  scarcely  at  the  time  be 
*' mighty  in  deeds"  otherwise  than  by  following  the  career  of 
arms  and  distinguishing  himself  in  war.  Moses,  moreover, 
could  not  have  marshalled  the  host  of  the  Israelites  as  he  did 
(Exod.  xiii.  18),  on  their  exodus  from  Egypt,  without  military 
knowledge  and  skill  of  an  advanced  kind.  It  seems  therefore  to 
be,  on  the  whole,  reasonable  to  conclude  that  during  the  space  of 
nearly  twenty  years,  which  must  have  intervened  between  the 
termination  of  his  university  training,  at  about  the  age  of 
twenty,  and  his  flight  into  Midian,  when  he  was  "fully  forty" 
(Acts  vii.  23),  Moses  was  engaged  in  the  Egyptian  military 
service,  first  learning  the  trade  of  a  soldier,  and  then  exercising 
it,  originally  in  the  lower,  and  ultimately  in  the  higher,  grades. 

The  life  of  a  soldier,  in  its  earlier  stages,  was  one  of  consider- 
able hardship.  "  At  an  early  age,  the  youth  destined  for  the 
profession  of  arms  was  sent  to  the  military  school  or  barracks ; 
and  his  miseries  there  are  described  by  a  contemporary  of 
Ramesses  II.,  as  also  the  additional  ones  of  the  warrior  of  a 
chariot,  who  underwent  instruction  in  taking  to  pieces  and  re- 
adjusting his  chariot,  and  driving  it."  ^  The  importance  of  drill 
was  fully  recognized,  and  the  young  soldier  was  carefully  in- 
structed by  the  drill-sergeant  for  months,  until  he  acquired 
complete  proficiency.  To  keep  step  exactly,  to  carry  arms  in 
^  Dr.  S.  Birch  in  Wilkinson's  "Ancient  Egyptians,"  vol.  i.  p.  187. 


EARLY    MANHOOD   OF    MOSES.  47 

exactly  the  same  way,  to  dress  the  line  to  perfection,  to  move  all 
as  one  man,  to  fire  volleys  of  arrows  at  a  signnl  all  at  once,  were 
among  the  Ics-ons  10  be  learnt  ;  and  the  drill-sergeant  had 
power  to  enforce  his  instructions  with  a  stick,  though  he  would 
scarcely  venture  to  use  it  when  drilling  a  young  oflicer  of  the 
rank  of  Moses.  Kven  after  drill  was  over,  the  recruit  was  not 
left  to  hin)self ;  severe  exercise  was  required  of  him,  and  (accord- 
ing to  Diodorus  Siculus)  even  Sesostris  was  obliged,  like  the 
other  recruits  who  were  trained  with  him,  to  run  a  distance  of 
above  twenty  miles  every  morning  before  breakfast/  If  for 
"  twenty  "  we  substitute  "  two,"  the  fact  may  have  been  as  stated. 
Athletic  sports  and  games  formed  also  a  part  of  the  soldiers' 
training,  and  mock-fights,  wrestling,  leaping,  cudgelling,  and 
numerous  feats  of  strength  and  agility,  were  constantly  practised 
under  the  superintendence  of  skilled  persons.  After  the  earlier 
drill  was  completed,  there  was  a  special  training  for  the  chariot 
service,  the  chariot  warrior  having  to  learn  how  to  mount  into  the 
chariot  and  descend  from  it  while  it  was  in  motion,  how  to 
manage  the  steeds,  in  case  any  chance  deprived  him  of  his 
charioteer,  and  even  how  to  take  his  chariot  to  pieces  and  put  it 
together  again. 

If  Seti  I.  was,  as  we  have  supposed,  the  Pharaoh  who  began 
the  severe  oppression,  the  youth  and  early  manhood  of  Moses 
must  have  fallen  into  the  period  of  the  joint  reign  of  Seti  with 
his  son,  the  Great  Ramesses.-  These  monarchs  v.-ere  engaged, 
separately  or  conjointly,  in  a  continued  series  of  military  expedi- 
tions. Invasion  from  the  Hittites  was  feared,  and  while  strong 
defensive  measures  were  taken  against  it,  a  hugh  wall  being 
built  to  protect  the  north-eastern  frontier,  and  "  store-cities  " 
constructed  (Exod.  i.  2)  as  military  magazines,  where  arms  and 
food  might  be  accumulated,  it  was  also  thought  most  prudent  to 
carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's  country,  and  to  prevent  him  from 
marching  his  troops  beyond  his  borders  by  giving  him  ample 
employment  for  them  at  home.  We  cannot  say  whether  or  no 
Moses  fleshed  his  maiden  sword  in  these  conflicts.  On  the  one 
hand,  Josephus  certainly  writes  as  if  he  thought  that  the  Ethio- 

^  Diod.  Sic.  i.  53. 

'  Seti  associated  Ramesses  when  he  was  ten  years  old,  probably  in  his 
own  eleventh  or  twelfth  year.  They  reigned  conjoinliy  after  this  for  eighteen 
or  twenty  years.  Moses  was  probably  bom  about  the  fifth  or  sixth  year 
of  Seti. 


48  MOSES. 

pian  expedition  was  the  first  one  in  which  Moses  was  engaged. 
On  the  other,  it  seems  incredible  that  he  should  have  been 
selected  for  a  post  of  the  highest  importance  at  a  time  of  extreme 
danger,  whether  the  selection  was  made  by  the  king  himself  of 
his  own  free  will,  or  Avhether  it  was  enjoined  upon  him  by  the 
priests,  if  he  was  an  untried  officer,  wholly  undistinguished,  not 
known  to  possess  any,  even  the  smallest,  military  talent.  Neither 
the  king  nor  the  priests  can  be  supposed  to  have  regarded  Moses 
at  this  time  as  possessing  superhuman  powers,  and  therefore 
sure  to  succeed  against  an  enemy  by  the  Divine  aid  that  would 
be  vouchsafed  him.  Moses  had  as  yet  exhibited  no  such  powers. 
He  can  only  have  been  selected  because  he  was  believed  to  be 
a  good  general.  Whence  had  that  belief  arisen  ?  To  us  it  ap- 
pears that  the  only  possible  answer  is  this — he  had  exhibited 
courage,  conduct,  and  the  other  qualities  necessary  for  a  com- 
mander, in  other  previous  wars  ;  and  these,  if  he  lived  at  the 
time  which  we  have  ventured  to  assign  to  him,  would  almost 
certainly  be  the  Hittite  wars  of  Seti,  or  of  his  son  Ramesses. 

The  circumstances  of  the  Ethiopian  expedition,  according  to 
Josephus,  were  the  following  : — The  Ethiopians,  neighbours  of 
the  Egyptians  upon  the  south,  were  in  the  habit  of  making  in- 
roads into  their  territory,  and  ravaging  it  from  time  to  time. 
After  a  while  they  provoked  the  Egyptians  to  retaliate,  and  the 
latter  marched  an  army  into  the  land  of  the  Ethiopians,  to 
punish  them  for  their  insolence.  But  the  Ethiopians  gathered 
their  forces  together,  and,  engaging  the  Egyptians  in  the  open 
field,  completely  defeated  them,  slaughtering  a  vast  number,  and 
forcing  the  rest  to  make  a  hasty  and  disgraceful  retreat  into 
their  own  country.  It  was  now  the  turn  of  the  Ethiopians  to 
take  the  offensive.  Following  up  the  flying  foe,  they  crossed  the 
border,  and,  not  content  with  ravaging,  proceeded  to  seize  and 
occupy  large  portions  of  Southern  Egypt.  The  inhabitants  did 
not  venture  on  resistance  ;  and,  httle  by  little,  the  invaders  crept 
on  tov.-ards  the  north,  till  they  reached  Memphis,  and  even  the 
Mediterranean  coast,  without  a  single  city  having  held  out 
against  their  attack.  Reduced  to  the  depths  of  despair,  the 
Egyptians  had  recourse  to  their  oracular  shrines,  and  inquired 
of  them  what  it  would  be  best  for  them  to  do.  The  reply  given 
by  the  oracles,  z'.e.  by  the  priests,  who  had  the  control  of  them, 
was — "  Use  the  Hebrew  as  your  helper."  No  one  doubted  that 
by  "the  Hebrew"  was  meant  Moses,  or  that  the  "help"  to  be 


EART.V    MANHOOD  OF   MOSES.  49 

required  of  hifn  was  that  he  should  take  the  conduct  of  the  war. 
Moses  accordingly  was  invested  with  the  sole  command,  and  at 
the  head  of  the  Egyptian  troops  he  marched  into  the  enemy's 
country,  got  rid  of  the  serpents  which  infested  it  by  an  importa- 
tion of  ibises,  and  defeated  the  army  which  was  sent  against  him 
in  a  decisi\  c  battle.  He  then  went  on,  and  took  city  by  city,  every- 
where overcoming  the  resistance  that  was  offered  to  him,  and 
slaying  large  numbers  of  the  enemy.  His  troops,  whom  their 
reverses  had  disheartened,  took  courage  so  soon  as  they  found 
that  their  new  general  could  lead  them  to  victory,  and  showed 
themselves  excellent  soldiers,  ready  to  endure  alike  toil  and 
danger.  Penetrating  at  last  to  the  very  heart  of  the  country, 
they  la-id  siege  to  the  capital,  Saba,  afterwards  called  Meroe, 
which  lay  on  the  Nile,  almost  surrounded  by  a  bend  of  the  river, 
and  further  guarded  by  a  strong  wall  and  by  the  two  streams  of 
the  Astaboras  and  the  Astacus.  Numerous  assaults  were  made 
on  the  defences  without  any  result,  though  the  gallantry  of  Moses 
and  his  cleverness  were  alike  conspicuous  ;  until  at  last  the  king's 
daughter,  Tharbis,  attracted  by  his  doughty  deeds,  fell  in  love 
with  him,  and  persuaded  her  father  to  come  to  terms  with  his 
assailants.  It  was  agreed  that  the  city  should  be  surrendered 
on  condition  that  Moses  made  Tharbis  his  wife,  and  that  a 
treaty  of  peace  should  at  the  same  time  be  concluded  between 
the  two  nations  on  terms  that  are  not  stated.  The  agreement 
was  carried  out  :  the  marriage  between  Moses  and  Tharbis  was 
celebrated  ;  and  the  Hebrew  general,  with  his  army,  returned 
to  Egypt  in  triumph.' 

There  are  many  points  in  this  narrative  which  the  critical 
historian  reasonably  rejects  or  questions.  First,  the  power  of 
Ethiopia  at  the  time  is  greatly  over-stated,  the  conquest  of  Egypt 
city  by  city,  the  fall  of  Memphis,  and  the  approach  of  the  in- 
vader to  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  being  apparently  taken  from 
the  actual  history  of  six  centuries  later,  when  more  than  one 
Ethiopian  conqueror  humiliated  Egypt  in  the  way  described. 
Next,  the  episode  of  the  serpents  and  the  ibises  is  plainly  an 
embellishment,  since  ibises  do  not  need  to  be  imported  into 
Ethiopia,  where  they  are  as  common  as  in  Egypt,  and  since  in 
no  country  have  serpents  ever  been  known  to  be  so  numerous 
as  seriously  to  impede  the  march  of  an  army.     Further,  the 

'  Josephus,  "Ant.Jud."  ii.  10.  Compare  Artapanus  in  the  "  Fragm.  Hist. 
Gr."  of  C.  Miiller,  vol,  iii.  p.  220,  Fr.  14. 

5 


50  MOSES. 

Egyptian  successes  are  probably  as  much  exaggerated  as  the 
previous  successes  of  the  Ethiopians,  since  there  is  no  appear- 
ance in  the  monuments  of  the  Egyptian  authority  having  ever 
been  extended  into  the  region  mentioned,  that  where  the  Nile  is 
joined  by  the  tributaries  which  flow  into  it  from  the  Abyssinian 
highlands.  The  manner,  moreover,  in  which  the  war  ended,  and 
the  marriage  between  Moses  and  Tharbis,  are  probably  fictions, 
nothing  else  being  known  of  Tharbis,  and  Moses  being  free  to 
marry  Zipporah  not  long  afterwards. 

But  the  exaggerations  and  the  embellishments  do  not  affect 
the  general  credit  of  the  narrative — or  at  any  rate  of  that  which 
is  of  most  importance  in  it — the  elevation  of  Moses  to  the 
position  of  commander-in-chief  of  an  Egy^ptian  army  at  a  time 
of  danger,  his  conduct  of  a  campaign  against  the  Ethiopians, 
and  the  successful  issue  of  his  expedition.  These  points  seem 
worthy  of  our  belief,  since  it  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  they 
should  be  pure  inventions,  and  yet  be  related  as  facts  by  two 
authors  of  repute,  one  a  Jew,  having  access  to  the  archives  of 
his  nation,  and  well  versed  in  its  traditions  ;  the  other  a  Greek 
of  Alexandria,  likely  to  be  famihar  with  Egyptian  no  less  than 
with  Jewish  records. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE    GREAT    DECISION. 

Prospects  of  Moses  after  the  Ethiopianexpedition— His  leaning  towards  his 
brethren  —  His  "tour  of  inspection" — His  remonstrances  in  higli 
quarters  ineffectual — Two  possible  courses  open  to  him — The  great 
decision — Moses  casts  in  his  lot  with  his  brethren — His  efforts  to  help 
them— His  hasty  homicide— His  danger— His  flight  eastward— His 
arrival  in  Midian. 

Moses  had  returned  from  Ethiopia  covered  with  glory.  What- 
ever enmities  or  jealousies  he  may  previously  have  aroused 
must  have  died  away,  or  hid  themselves,  when  it  had  to  be 
generally  acknowledged  that  the  whole  country  was  beholden  to 
him  and  owed  him  a  debt  of  gratitude.  A  tempting  prospect  of 
court  favour,  high  employments,  sounding  titles,  and  rich  emolu- 
ments, must  have  lain  before  him.  In  Egypt  the  Court  was  apt 
to  accumulate  its  rewards  on  the  favourite  of  the  time  being,  and 
to  think  no  amount  of  seemingly  incompatible  offices  ill-bestowed 
upon  the  man  who  was  recognized  as  deserving.  An  individual, 
named  Ptah-ases,  who  lived  under  the  old  empire,  was  at  one 
and  the  same  time  prophet  of  Phthah,  of  Sokari,  and  of  Athor, 
priest  of  the  temple  of  Sokari,  and  of  that  of  Phthah  at  Mem- 
phis, prophet  of  Ra-Harmachis,  of  Ma,  and  of  Horus,  as  well 
as  overseer  of  the  public  granaries,  royal  secretary,  chief  of  the 
mines,  and  "chief  of  the  house  of  bronze."'  A  subject  under 
the  last  Ramesses  held  in  combination  the  offices  of  high-priest 
of  Ammon  at  Thebes,  chief  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt,  royal  son 
of  Kush,  fan-bearer  on  the  right  hand  of  the  king,  chief  architect, 
» De  Roug6,  "  Recherches  sur  les  Monuments  des  six  premieres  Dynasties," 
pp.  68-72. 


52  MOSES. 

and  administrator  of  the  granaries.'  The  system  of  pluralities 
was  an  established  one,  and  was  rendered  possible  by  the 
separation  of  emoluments  from  duties,  the  nominal  holder 
receivinjy  the  high  stipends  attached  to  the  several  offices,  while 
such  duties  as  they  involved  were  discharged  by  ill-paid  deputies. 
Moses  might  have  confidently  looked  forward  to  some  such  a 
position  under  Ramesses  II.  as  Ptah-ases  had  held  under  Ases- 
kaf,  or  as  Her  hor  afterwards  held  under  the  last  Ramesses,  had 
he  been  content  to  make  no  change  in  the  character  of  his  life, 
but  simply  to  continue  in  the  rank  and  condition  in  which  the 
circumstances  of  his  birth  and  breeding  had,  without  any  effort 
of  his  own,  placed  him. 

But  underneath  the  smooth  current  of  his  life  hitherto — a  life 
of  alternate  luxury  at  the  Court,  and  comparative  hardness  in  the 
camp  and  in  the  discharge  of  his  military  duties — there  had 
lurked,  from  childhood  to  youth,  from  youth  to  manhood,  a 
secret  discontent,  perhaps  a  secret  ambition.  Moses,  amid  all 
his  Egyptian  surroundings, had  never  forgotten, had  never  wished 
to  forget,  that  he  was  a  Hebrew.  The  tale  that  in  his  earlier 
infancy  he  had  refused  the  milk  of  Egyptian  nurses,  and 
starved  himself  till  he  could  suck  nutriment  from  a  Hebrew 
breast,""  though  a  pure  myth,  is  valuable,  as  indicative  of  his 
unceasing  attachment  to  the  race  from  which  he  was  sprung. 
The  more  credible  tradition  that,  while  at  Heliopolis,  he  always 
performed  his  prayers,  according  to  the  custom  of  his  fathers, 
outside  the  walls  of  the  city,  in  the  open  air,  turning  towards  the 
sun-rising,3  shows  that  he  refused  to  conceal,  under  trying  cir- 
cumstances, either  his  nationality  or  his  religion.  To  the  honour 
of  the  Hebrew  people  it  must  be  said  that  they  have  at  all  times, 
and  under  all  circumstances,  unless  perhaps  sometimes  where 
persecution  was  the  cruellest,  made  open  avowal  of  their  faith, 
and  submitted  to  the  consequences  of  such  avowal  without 
shrinking.  Moses  had  done  this,  but  as  yet  he  had  not  thrown 
in  his  lot  with  his  people — he  had  remained  an  outsider — he  had 
not  even,  it  would  seem,  made  himself  acquainted  with  their 
actual  condition,  or  had  more  than  a  vague  knowledge  of  their 
sufferings.  But  the  time  was  now  come  when  he  felt  it  incum- 
bent on  him  to  do  more.  He  had  attained  a  position  of  some 
authority.  His  voice  had  become  of  some  weight  in  the  counsels 

*  Brugsch,  "  History  of  Egypt,"  vol.  ii.  p.  191. 

^Josephus,  "Ant.  Jud."  ii.  9,  ^  5.     3 Josephus,  "  Contr.  Apion.,"  ii.  2. 


THE  GREAT  DECISION.  53 

of  the  State.  He  might  expect  that  any  representations  which 
he  might  make  would  command  attention. 

So  he  resolved  on  a  tour  of  inspection,  "  He  went  out  unto  his 
brethren,  and  looked  upon  their  burdens"  (Exod.  ii.  11).  Alone, 
or  accompanied  by  a  few  attendants,  he  passed  through  the 
portion  of  Egypt  occupied  by  the  Israelites,  and  by  personal 
eye-witness  made  himself  familiar,  in  every  detail,  with  the  con- 
dition of  his  people.  And  what  was  that  condition  ?  One 
portion  were  working  in  the  brickfields.  Some  were  digging  the 
stiff  clay  out  of  the  hot  pits,  where  no  shade  was  possible,  and 
no  breath  of  air,  could  touch  them.  Some  were  kneading  the 
stiti"  clay  into  suppleness  with  their  hands  or  with  their  feet,  and 
mixing  it  with  the  straw  which  was  required  to  bind  together 
the  soft  material.  Some  were  shaping  the  clay  into  bricks  by 
means  of  a  mould  or  form,  into  which  the  material  was  pressed, 
and  from  which  it  was  subsequently  turned  out  in  the  shape  de- 
sired. Some  were  carrying  heavy  burdens  of  bricks  upon  their 
backs,  either  in  baskets  or  by  means  of  a  yoke  slung  across  the 
shoulders.  Finally,  some  were  arranging  the  bricks  into  stacks, 
where  the  drying  would  be  completed,  and  whence  they  would 
be  carried  off  by  those  employed  in  building. 

Another  portion  utilized  the  bricks  which  had  been  made  by 
their  brethren.  The  "store-cities"  of  Pithom  and  Ramesses 
(Raamses),  with  their  huge  walls,  their  magazines  and  granaries, 
their  temple-enclosures,  their  streets  and  squares,  their  mansions 
and  residences,  were  the  work  of  Israelite  hands,  which  dug 
the  foundations,  emplaced  the  bricks,  spread  the  mortar,  and 
gradually  raised  up  the  walls  and  buildings  to  the  prescribed 
height.  Taking  our  stand  on  the  mound  of  Tel-es-Maskoutah, 
and  looking  round  about  on  the  great  massive  wall  enclosing  it, 
940  yards  long,  eight  yards  broad,  and  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
feet  high,  on  the  tangle  of  store-chambers  and  other  buildings 
spread  over  it,  and  the  temple  occupying  its  south-western 
angle,  we  see  the  actual  works  in  which  the  Israelites  of  Moses' 
time  were  engaged,  and  in  our  wanderings  may  stand  where  he 
stood  to  consider,  and  weigh  in  the  scales  of  truth,  the  heaviness 
of  the  burdens  imposed  upon  them.  The  work  of  the  builders 
was  scarcely  so  severe  as  that  of  the  brick-makers.  It  is,  how- 
ever, described  as  both  unhealthy  and  unpleasant  by  Egyptian 
authors.  "  I  tell  you  also  of  the  builder  of  precincts,"  says  one  ; 
"disease  seizes  on  him  (literally,  'tastes  him  *),  for  he  is  always 


54  MOSES. 

in  draughts  of  air ;  he  builds  in  slings,  tied  to  the  pillars  of  the 
house.  His  hands  are  worn  with  labour  ;  his  clothes  are  out  of 
order  ;  he  washes  himself  but  once  [in  the  day]  ;  for  bread  he 
eats  his  fingers."^ 

A  section  of  the  Israelites,  if  we  may  credit  Philo,^  was 
employed  in  digging  canals.  In  all  countries  this  is  heavy  and 
dreary  work  ;  but  in  Egypt  it  is  not  only  wearisome,  but  also 
unhealthy.  To  dig  for  long  hours  under  a  blazing  sun,  with  the 
feet  in  wet  mud  or  in  w^ater,  is  trying  to  any  man  :  to  ill-fed  and 
lU-cared-for  labourers  it  is  often  fatal.  Neco,  we  are  told,  caused 
the  death  of  120,000  men  by  his  attempt  to  re-open  the  canal 
between  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea. 3  Ten  thousand  men 
perished  under  Mehemet  Ali  in  the  construction  of  the  canal  of 
Alexandria.  The  great  work  of  M.  Lesseps  is  believed  to 
have  proved  fatal  to  a  much  larger  number.  Where  deaths  are 
numerous,  cases  of  severe  suffering  short  of  death  are  countless  ; 
and  we  may  conclude  therefore  that  Moses  would  see,  in  the 
condition  of  such  Israelites  as  w^ere  engaged  in  canal-digging,  an 
intensified  form  of  the  ''service  with  rigour,"  which  prevailed 
generally. 

One  other  occupation  is  mentioned  as  included  in  the  oppres- 
sion of  Israel  ;  viz.,  labour  "  in  the  field  "—employment,  that  is, 
in  agriculture.  At  first  sight,  there  might  seem  to  be  nothing 
very  severe  in  this,  since  agricultural  employment  is  the  lot  of 
the  bulk  of  mankind  everywhere.  But  there  is  an  enormous 
difference  between  the  kind  of  work  done  by  free  labourers  in 
a  land  of  liberty,  and  that  exacted  from  forced  labourers  in 
countries  where  slavery  is  a  recognized  institution.  Negro 
emancipation  in  the  West  Indies  and  in  the  Southern  States  of 
America,  was  brought  about  very  much  through  the  representa- 
tions made  by  eye-witnesses  of  the  severe  drudgery  and  toil 
actually  imposed  on  the  slaves  employed  in  the  cultivation  of 
the  cotton-plant  and  the  sugar-cane.  In  Egypt,  as  in  most  other 
countries,  slaves  worked  under  the  lash.  "The  little  labourer 
having  a  field,"  says  an  Egyptian  writer  of  about  Moses'  time, 
"  passes  his  life  among  the  beasts  ;  he  is  worn  down  for  vines 
and  figs,  to  make  his  kitchen  of  what  his  fields  have.  His 
clothes  are  a  heavy  weight  ;  he  is  bound  as  a  forced  labourer  ; 
if  he  goes  forth  into  the  air,  he  suffers — he  is  bastinadoed  with 

*  "Records  of  the  Past,"  vol.  viii.  pp.  149,  150. 

•  "  Vit.  Mosis,"  p.  85.  3  Herodotus,  ii.  158. 


THE  GREAT  DECISION.  35 

a  stick  on  his  legs — perhaps  he  seeks  to  save  himself;  but  shut 
against  him  is  the  hall  of  every  house, closed  are  the  chambers."  ' 
Any  stoppage,  any  cessation  from  toil,  any  rest,  such  as  \vc  see 
our  own  labourers  freely  taking  as  often  as  they  require  it,  is 
punished,  where  the  serf  works  under  a  task-master  armed  with 
a  whip  or  stick,  by  a  sharp  blow  on  the  legs,  or  arms,  or  back, 
which  often  raises  a  wheal  or  brings  the  blood  to  the  surface. 
Blows  may  be  infrequent ;  but  the  fear  of  a  blow  is  perpetual  ; 
and  the  labour  is  thus  constant,  unceasing,  such  as  taxes  the 
strength  beyond  endurance,  the  fear  of  the  stick  causing  the 
labourer  to  work  till  he  drops.  Then,  probably,  he  is  kicked, 
and  left  lying  on  the  ground  in  the  hot  sunshine,  until  he  can 
crawl  home  to  the  wretched  shed  or  cabin  which  is  his  resting- 
place  at  night. 

When  Moses  "went  out  unto  his  brethren,  and  looked  upon 
their  burdens"  (Exod.  ii.  11),  such  were  the  sights  that  he  would 
see,  such  the  images  that  he  would  carry  back  from  his  tour  of 
inspection,  burnt  into  his  memory,  to  be  reproduced  in  his 
thoughts  over  and  over  again,  as  he  lay  on  his  couch  of  down  in 
his  apartments  at  the  Court.  And  then  would  arise  in  his  mind 
the  question — Could  he  do  nothing  to  help  his  brethren — to 
ameliorate  their  condition — to  lessen  their  sufferings  .'*  Probably 
the  first  course  that  would  suggest  itself  would  be  remonstrance 
with  those  who  were  at  the  head  of  affairs — a  representation  to 
them  of  the  guilt  which  they  incurred,  according  to  the  laws  of 
Egyptian  morality,  in  conniving  at  the  cruelties  which  he  had 
witnessed.  Egyptian  morality  required  men  to  "  resist  the  op- 
pressor, to  put  a  stop  to  violence,  to  shield  the  weak  against  the 
strong,"  to  be  kind-hearted  and  generally  benevolent.  Moses,  ^^ 
if  he  occupied  the  high  position  which  we  have  supposed,  may 
have  expected  that  his  words  would  have  weight,  that  attention 
would  be  paid  to  his  remonstrances,  that,  if  he  was  not  allowed 
to  direct,  he  might  at  any  rate  be  permitted  to  modify,  the  policy 
of  the  empire.  "Why,"  he  might  urge,  "should  the  Israelites 
be  singled  out  for  suspicion  and  hatred  ?  Were  they  not  Jiis 
brethren,  and  had  not  he  shown  unmistakably  the  good-will 
that  animated  him  towards  Egypt?  What  had  they  done  to 
deserve  their  hard  usage.''  Had  they  not  been  quiet  subjects, 
useful  servants  of  the  king  (Gen.  xlvii.  6),  an  addition  to  the 
strength  of  Egypt?"  But  Moses  would  argue  to  minds  blocked 
*  "  Records  of  the  Past,"  vol.  viii.  p.  149. 


56  MOSES. 

against  his  reasonings  by  prejudice,  impervious  to  argument  by 
reason  of  long-engrained  prepossessions,  and  unaccustomed  to 
changes  of  policy,  unless  when  one  dynasty  was  superseded  by 
another  (Exod.  i.  8),  and  a  "  new  king  "  introduced  new  modes  of 
action.  Thus,  it  would  soon  become  plain  to  Moses  that  his 
words  were  making  no  impression  on  those  who  heard  them, 
and  that,  if  he  was  to  be  of  any  service  to  his  brethren,  he  must 
adopt  some  other  method. 

But  what  method  was  possible?  As  an  Egyptian,  it  was 
evident  that  he  could  do  nothing.  If  he  remained  an  Egyptian, 
if  he  clung  to  his  Court  life,  if  he  maintained  his  position  as  the 
adopted  son  of  a  princess,  he  must  be  content  to  resign  the  hope 
of  being  ever  his  brethren's  deliverer  (Acts  vii.  25),  or  of  in  any 
way  ameliorating  their  life.  The  alternative  was  for  him  to  cast 
in  his  lot  with  them,  to  make  himself  one  of  them,  to  ingratiate 
himself  with  them  so  that  they  should  accept  him  as  their  leader, 
and  then,  when  occasion  offered,  to  put  himself  at  their  head, 
and  break  the  Egyptian  yoke  from  off  their  shoulders. 

The  time  had  arrived,  as  it  arrives  to  most  of  us  in  the  course 
•f  our  careers  on  earth,  to  make  the  great  decision,  for  God 
and  conscience,  or  against  them.  On  the  one  side  were  all  the 
temptations  that  the  world  and  the  flesh  can  offer — first,  "  the 
treasures  of  Egypt  "  (Heb.  xi.  26) — not  the  mere  gold  and  silver 
that  would  naturally  fall  to  his  lot,  if  he  lived  on  as  a  prince  in 
the  royal  palace — but  the  luxury,  the  culture,  the  enjoyments  of 
"ihe  Court — dainty  fare,  and  grand  banquets,  and  the  charms  of 
music,  painting  and  statuary — and  sports  and  hunting  parties, 
fishing  and  fowling,  the  chase  of  the  lion  and  the  antelope — and 
soft  sofas  and  luxurious  couches,  and  rich  apparel,  and  chains 
and  collars,  proofs  of  the  king's  good-will — and  all  the  outward 
signs  which  mark  off  those  on  whom  society  smiles  from  the 
crowd  of  those  who  are  of  small  account  ;  and,  secondly,  beyond 
all  these,  "the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season"  (Heb.  xi.  25) — the 
seductive  charms  of  a  Court  circle  not  over  strict  in  its  morals, 
the  feasts  that  turned  into  orgies,  the  sacred  rites  that  ended  in 
debauchery — all  these  spread  their  tempting  array  before  the 
lower  nature  of  the  prince,  now  in  manhood's  full  vigour,  and 
drew  him  towards  the  life  of  ease,  of  pleasure,  of  softness.  On 
the  other  side  were  conscience,  and  honour,  and  natural  affection, 
and  patriotism,  and  that  keen  longing  for  the  higher  and  the 
nobler  life,  which  is  an  essential  part  of  all  great  natures,  and 


THE  GREAT   DECISION.  57 

makes  itself  felt  in  crises  with  an  irresistible  force.  The  path 
of  self-sacrifice  will  always  attract  the  heroic  portion  of  humanity, 
and  the  choice  of  such  men  will  always  be  ''the  choice  of 
Hercules."  *'  To  scorn  delights  and  live  laborious  days"  is  the 
instinctive  resolve  of  every  strong  and  noble  character. 

Moses  is  said  to  have  made  his  choice  "  by  faith ''  (Heb.  xi.  23). 
Are  we  to  gather  from  this  that  a  revelation  had  been  already 
made  to  him  that  he  was  Israel's  destined  deliverer,  or  is  it  only 
meant  that  he  trusted  God  would  bless  his  resolution  to  his  own 
and  his  brethren's  advantage,  as  godly  men  may  always  trust 
that  their  efforts  will  be  blest,  when  with  an  honest  and  true 
heart  they  seek  to  do  the  best  they  can  ?  Perhaps  this  latter 
view  is  the  more  probable,  though  the  other  has  sometimes  been 
taken.  At  any  rate,  whatever  the  ground  of  his  trust,  and  what- 
ever the  reasons  for  his  having  delayed  so  long,  Moses  at  length 
"  by  faith  "  made  h'.s  choice,  "  refused  to  be  called"  any  longer 
"the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter"  (ver.  25),  and  "chose  rather 
to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God  "  (ver.  26).  He  quitted 
the  palace,  gave  up  whatever  offices  he  held,  returned  probably 
to  his  father's  house,  and  therein  once  more  took  up  his  abode, 
so  making  it  clear  to  all  that  he  renounced  his  Egyptian  citizen- 
ship, and  would  henceforth  only  be  known  as  one  of  the  outcast 
Hebrews,  one  of  the  oppressed,  down-trodden  nation,  which  had 
for  above  forty  years  been  suffering  the  bitterest  and  most  cruel 
persecution. 

But  he  was  not  long  to  continue  in  this  retirement.  With  a 
heart  burning  with  indignation  at  the  wrongs  of  his  countrymen, 
he  went  about  the  neighbourhood  of  Memphis,  observing  their 
treatment,  perhaps  remonstrating  with  those  who  ill-used  them, 
and  endeavouring  to  shame  them  into  the  adoption  of  milder 
methods.  He  may  have  been  to  some  extent  successful;  but 
an  occasion  came  when  the  oppressor  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
remonstrance,  and  persisted  in  his  ill-usage  of  an  unfortunate 
Hebrew  labourer,  despite  all  that  Moses  could  say  to  him.  Then 
the  pent-up  fire  which  was  consuming  him  burst  forth.  Moses 
raised  his  hand  and  smote  the  Egyptian  and  slew  him,  It  was 
a  hasty  and  rash  act,  the  result  of  a  violent  access  of  indignation, 
which  made  him  strike  with  a  force  which  he  had  not  intended, 
and  produced  a  result  that  he  had  not  anticipated.  The  deed 
done  could  not  be  acknowledged  and  justified — it  was  necessary 
to  conceal  it.     So  Moses,  after  scraping  a  hole  in  the  sand,  which 


SS  MOSES. 

in  Egypt  always  creeps  up  to  the  edge  of  the  cultivated  ground, 
buried  the  corpse  in  it. 

The  homicide  might  have  remained  unknown,  had  not  the 
Hebrew  on  whose  behalf  Moses  had  interfered  informed  his 
countrymen  of  the  circumstances  under  which  he  had  been 
rescued  from  the  hands  of  his  oppressor.  We  may  well  believe 
that  he  did  this  with  no  evil  intent,  but  rather  with  the  object  of 
extolling  his  benefactor,  and  venting  his  own  sense  of  obligation. 
But  a  secret  once  divulged  ceases  to  be  a  secret;  and  it  v.-as  not 
long  before  Moses  found  that  his  homicide  was  bruited  abroad. 
'  When  he  went  out  the  second  day,  behold,  two  men  of  the 
Hebrews  strove  together  ;  and  he  said  unto  him  that  did  the 
wrong— Wherefore  smitest  thou  thy  fellow  ?  And  he  said,  Who 
made  thee  a  prince  and  a  judge  over  us  ?  Intendest  thou  to  kill 
me  as  thou  killedst  the  Egyptian  ?  And  Moses  feared,  and  said, 
Surely  this  thing  is  known"  (Exod.  ii.  13,  14).  Known  it  was, 
and  not  only  to  his  own  people,  but  to  the  Egyptians  also;  and 
the  Egyptians  who  heard  it  carried  the  news  to  the  king, 
Ramesses  II,,  who  by  this  time  was  reigning  alone.  What  the 
feelings  of  the  monarch  had  been  towards  Moses  hitherto  is 
wholly  uncertain,  the  hostility,  the  fear,  and  the  envy  ascribed 
to  him  by  some  writers  being  in  a  high  degree  improbable. 
Ramesses  had  gained  too  many  victories  himself  to  be  jealous 
of  a  subject  because  he  had  been  successful  in  a  single  expedi- 
tion, and  was  far  too  confident  in  the  security  of  his  position  to 
fear  a  rebellion  against  his  authority.  But  such  an  act  as  that 
which  Moses  had  perpetrated  was  an  offence  against  the  law, 
which  could  not  well  be  condoned  ;  and  we  cannot  be  surprised 
that  the  Pharaoh,  when  he  heard  of  the  thing,  "  sought  to  slay 
Moses  "  (Exod.ii.  1 5),  or,  at  any  rate,  sought  to  have  him  arrested. 
His  arrest  would  under  the  circumstances  have  been,  beyond  a 
doubt,  followed  by  his  execution  ;  since  he  had  no  legal  right  to 
strike  the  Egyptian  at  all,  and  if  a  man  unlawfully  wounds 
another  with  malice  prepense,  and  the  consequences  are  fatal, 
he  is  held  in  all  civilized  countries  to  be  guilty  of  a  crime  which 
may  in  strict  justice  be  punished  with  death.  Moses  took  a 
correct  view  of  the  situation,  and  "  fled  from  the  face  of 
Pharaoh,"  feeling  that  his  only  chance  of  safety  lay  in  making 
his  escape  from  Egypt,  and  betaking  himself  to  some  country 
which  was  beyond  the  reach  of  the  Egyptian  influence. 
Treaties  of  extradition  were  not  unknown  at    the  period,  but 


THE  GREAT   DECISION. 


59 


they  were  rare  and  unusual.  Once  beyond  the  Egyptian  border, 
he  would  easily  reach  a  land  where  he  would  incur  no  risk  of 
being  surrendered  or  even  demanded. 

A  fugitive   from  Egyptian  justice,  starting   from    Memphis, 
would  almost  necessarily   set  his  face  towards  the  east.      He 
could  not  escape  by  travelling  northward,  for  in  that  direction 
the  dominion  of  the  Egyptian  monarch  reached  to  the  shores  of 
the  sea  ;  it  was  hopeless  to  proceed  southward,  for  the  frontier 
on  that  side  was  700  miles  away  ;  to  the  west  was  nothing  but 
uninhabited  sandy  desert,  without  food,  or  water,  or  shade.  The 
eastern  desert  was,  on  the  contrary,  to  some  extent  peopled  ;  it 
had  trees  and  wells  in  places,  and  thus  was  traversable  ;  though 
reckoned  to  Egypt,  it  was  scarcely  under  Egyptian  rule,  and  the 
writ  of  the  Pharaoh  scarcely  ran  in  its  recesses.     Moses,  having 
provided  himself  with  a  bag  of  meal  and  a  water-bottle,  would 
enter  on  the  desert  within  a  few  hours  of  quitting  Memphis,  and 
would  gradually  thread  its  valleys,  always  making  towards  the 
east,  until  he  passed  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  and  found 
himself  in  Arabia.     Even    there,  however,   he  was  not   wholly 
safe.     The  Egyptians  in  the  time  of  Ramesses  II.  had  perma- 
nent   settlements  in  the  Wady  Magharah  and   at    Sarabit-el- 
Khadim  in  the  Sinaitic  peninsula,  where  they  worked  the  mines 
of  copper  and  turquoise  which  then  abounded  in  those  districts. 
To  communicate  with  these  settlements  they  must  have  had  a 
line  of  fortified  posts,  extending  from  their  frontier  at  or  near 
Suez  to  the  valleys  in  which  the  mines  were  situated.     It  was 
the    aim  of    Moses    to    place    himself   beyond  the   sphere  of 
Egyptian  influence  altogether  ;    and  to  do  this  he  had  to  reach 
the  more  eastern  portion  of  the  peninsula,  a  region  at  that  time 
inhabited    by    the    Midianites,  and   known  as    "the    land  of 
Midian  "  (Exod.  ii.  15).    The  route  which  he  took  was  probably 
very   much  the   same  as  that  by   which  he  afterwards  led  the 
Israelites  to  mount  Sinai.   It  ran  nearly  parallel  with  the  eastern 
coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  but  did  not  skirt  the  shore  excepting 
for  a  short  distance.      It  avoided  the  Egyptian  posts  and  settle- 
ments, and  brought  the  traveller,  after  the  lapse  of  some  weeks, 
to  the  vicinity  of  the  Elanitic  Gulf,  or  eastern  arm  of  the  Red 
Sea,  which    seems  in   early  times  to   have   been    the    proper 
country  of  the  southern  Midianites. 

Having  reached  this  remote  district,  weary,  thirsty,  and  travel- 
stained,  Moses  sate  himself  down  upon  the  margin  of  a  well, 


6o  MOSES. 

and  sought  to  recruit  his  strength  by  a  short  rest.  The  well 
was  one  of  considerable  repute,  so  that  it  is  called  "///^  well" 
(Exod.  ii.  15)— around  it  were  "troughs,"  or  tanks,  prepared  for 
the  watering  of  their  flocks  by  the  Bedouin  herdsmen  of  the 
neighbourhood.  As  Moses  sate  and  contemplated  the  scene 
around  him,  a  band  of  seven  maidens  drew  near,  bringing  with 
them  their  father's  flock,  and  began  to  draw  water  from  the 
well,  and  to  fill  the  troughs,  a  work  in  which  Moses,  with  natural 
politeness,  assisted  them  (Exod.  ii.  19).  But,  as  the  animals 
were  beginning  to  drink,  and  before  they  had  half  satisfied  their 
thirst,  some  of  the  Bedouin  herdsmen  came  up,  and  proceeded 
to  drive  the  maidens  and  their  flock  away,  in  order  to  water 
their  own  beasts  first.  Then  "  the  chivalrous  spirit  which  had 
already  broken  forth"  in  Moses  "on  behalf  of  his  oppressed 
countrymen,  broke  forth  again  on  behalf  of  the  oppressed 
maidens."  ^  He  "  delivered  "  the  maidens  from  the  shepherds, 
drove  them  off  by  threats  or  blows,  and  enabled  his  prot^gdes 
to  complete  their  watering  without  further  molestation.  The 
brave  action  naturally  led  to  the  damsels'  father  inviting 
Moses  into  his  tent,  to  "eat  bread"  with  him,  in  the  homely 
phrase  of  the  time  (Exod.  ii.  20).  And  the  acquaintance  thus 
formed  brought  the  wanderings  of  the  fugitive  to  an  end  ;  for 
he  was  content  to  take  service  under  the  Midianite  to  whom 
chance  had  thus  introduced  him  and  to  remain  his  dependent  for 
a  period,  which  St.  Stephen  roughly  estimates  (Acts  vii.  30)  at 
''forty  years." 

»  Dean  Stanley,  in  Smith's  "Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  vol.  ii.  p.  426. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MOSES  IN  MIDIAN. 

Country  occupied  by  the  Midianites — Position  of  Reuel  among  them — 
Position  of  Moses —Character  of  the  Sinaitic  region — Desolation — 
Silence— Occasional  sand-storms — Silence  of  the  nights — Moses'  life  in 
the  desert  a  preparation  for  his  subsequent  career — Few  circumstances 
of  his  life  known  to  us — Names  of  his  sons  and  explanation  of  them — 
Egyptian  story  of  Saneha  illustrates  this  part  of  the  history  of  Moses. 

The  Midianites  were  a  rich  and  a  powerful  people.  A  portion 
of  them  were  settled  in  cities  (Numb.  xxxi.  lo) ;  but  the  greater 
number  led  a  nomadic  life,  passing  from  district  to  district  over 
a  large  extent  of  ground  in  continual  search  of  fresh  pastures 
for  their  flocks  and  herds.  In  the  later  life  of  Moses,  their  most 
important  settlement  was  within  the  territory  generally  assigned 
to  Moab,  on  the  eastern  and  northern  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea 
(Numb.  xxiv.  1-4).  Their  tribes,  however,  did  not  confine 
themselves  to  this  locality,  but  wandered  as  their  fancy  led 
them  over  the  entire  tract  between  Palestine  and  Egypt,  while 
they  spread  also  into  Arabia  Proper,  occupying  the  eastern  no 
less  than  the  western  coast  of  the  Elanitic  Gulf,  and  even  build- 
ing cities  there. 

At  the  time  of  the  flight  of  Moses  from  Egypt,  the  Midianitish 
sheikh  of  most  authority  in  the  south-ea^iern  portion  of  the 
Sinaitic  peninsula  was  a  certain  Reuel  or  Raguel,  who  was  at 
once  priest  and  king  of  his  tribe.  This  Reuel  was  the  father 
of  the  maidens  whom  Moses  had  championed,  and  the  person 
who  had  received  him  into  his  tent,  and  with  whom  he  took 
service.  It  does  not  at  all  militate  against  this  view  of  the  rank 
of  Reuel  that  his  daughters  watered  their  father's  flock  ;  for,  in 


62  MOSES. 

the  simplicity  of  ancient  times,  chiefs'  daughters,  and  even  prin- 
cesses, condescended  to  such  an  occupation  (Gen.  xxiv.  15-20). 
Reuel's  position  was  hke  that  of  IMelchisedek  (Gen.  xiv.  18), 
only  that  Melchisedek  was  a  city  king,  while  Reuel  exercised 
his  authority  over  a  tribe  of  nomads.  He  was  the  chief  man 
in  the  parts  to  which  Moses  had  come,  and  it  was  a  fortunate 
circumstance  for  the  latter  that  his  wanderings  had  conducted 
him  to  the  residence  of  so  important  a  person.  Reuel's  friend- 
liness at  once  placed  him  above  want,  and  secured  him  a  life  of 
peace,  freedom,  and  dignity. 

It  has  been  said  that  Moses  was  Reuel's  "slave,"*  but  this 
is  entirely  to  misapprehend  his  position.  He  was  a  refugee 
whom  an  Arab  sheikh  had  taken  under  his  protection  and  re- 
ceived into  his  household  out  of  compassion  and  kindness.  He 
naturally  placed  his  services  at  the  disposal  of  his  benefactor, 
and  employed  himself  as  his  benefactor  suggested.  But  he 
continued  a  free  agent.  He  might  at  any  time  have  resumed 
his  wanderings  if  it  had  so  pleased  him,  or  have  transferred  his 
services  elsewhere.  But  self-interest  and  affection  alike  retained 
him  where  he  was.  Reuel  after  a  time  gave  him  one  of  his 
daughters  to  wife,  and  having  thus  become  a  member  of  the 
tribe  and  of  the  family,  it  was  natural  that  he  should  make  his 
permanent  home  in  the  tents  of  his  new  kindred.  His  employ- 
ment was,  of  course,  shepherding,  as  that  was  the  general 
occupation  of  the  tribe  ;  and  he  probably  moved  with  the  tribe  at 
different  periods  of  the  year  into  different  parts  of  the  peninsula. 

The  pastoral  life  of  the  desert  is  wonderfully  peaceful  and 
wonderfully  elevating,  more  especially  when  the  desert  has  the 
character  which  attaches  to  the  region  in  which  the  lot  of  Moses 
was  now  cast.  All  around  is  stillness.  Great  bare  mountains, 
scarred  and  seamed,  raise  their  bald  heads  into  the  azure  sky, 
casting  broad  shadows  at  morn  and  eve  over  the  plains  or  valleys 
at  their  base,  at  noonday  searched  and  scorched  by  the  almost 
vertical  sun,  which  penetrates  into  every  recess  and  spreads 
everywhere  a  glare  of  quivering  light,  except  where  some  over- 
hanging rock  casts  a  grateful  but  scanty  shade.  The  herbage 
in  the  valleys  and  plains  is  short,  but  sweet  and  nourishing. 
Trees  are  rare ;  but  low  shrubs  and  bushes,  chiefly  camel-thorn 
and  acacia,  abound  ;  while  here  and  there  a  clump,  or  even  a 
grove,  of  palms  affords  the  eye  a  welcome  variety.  The  moun- 
'  Stanley,  in  Smith's  "  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,''  vol.  ii.  p.  426. 


MOSES   IN    MIDI  AN.  63 

tains  ''combine  grandeur  with  desolation"* — in  this  respect, 
"their  scenery  is  absohitely  unrivalled.  They  arc  the  Alps  of 
Arabia,  but  the  Alps  planted  in  the  desert,  and  therefore  stripped 
of  all  the  clothing  which  goes  to  make  up  our  notions  of  Swiss 
or  English  mountains  ;  stripped  of  the  variegated  drapery  of 
oak,  and  birch,  and  pine,  and  fir  ;  of  moss,  and  grass,  and  fern, 
which  to  landscapes  of  European  hills  are  almost  as  essential 
as  the  rocks  and  peaks  themselves.  Of  all  the  charms  of  Swit- 
zerland, the  one  which  most  impresses  a  traveller  recently  re- 
turned from  the  East,  is  the  breadth  and  depth  of  its  verdure. 
The  very  name  of  "  Alp  "  is  strictly  applied  only  to  the  green 
pasture  lands  enclosed  by  rocks  or  glaciers — a  sight  in  the 
European  Alps  so  common,  in  these  Arabian  Alps  so  wholly 
unknown.  The  absence  of  verdure,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  is 
due  to  the  absence  of  water — to  those  perennial  streams  which 
are  at  once  the  creation  and  the  life  of  every  other  mountain 
district." 

And  the  silence,  partly  owing  to  this  absence  of  running  water, 
is  complete.  No  song  of  birds  enlivens  the  Sinaitic  solitudes, 
no  hum  of  insect  life  breaks  the  deathlike  stillness.  The  bleat 
of  a  goat  is  heard  at  the  distance  of  half  a  mile.  Now  and  then 
a  mysterious  sound,  half  ghostly,  half  musical,  suddenly  fills 
the  air,  and  then  passes  away,  leaving  the  stillness  stiller  than 
before.  It  is  caused  by  some  slip  of  sand  upon  the  mountain- 
side, or  by  some  expansion  or  contraction  of  the  rocks  through 
change  of  temperature.  Otherwise,  the  silence  is  unbroken. 
Thunder  and  lightning,  storm  and  tempest,  are  rare  visitants  of 
the  region ;  but  when  they  occur,  they  have  a  marked  character 
of  their  own  ;  and  it  is  one  of  peculiar  impressiveness. 

The  Sinaitic  peninsula,  though  composed  chiefly  of  rock 
and  gravel,  is  in  certain  localities  liable  to  sand-storms.  Dean 
Stanley  tells  us  of  one  that  he  experienced,  which  lasted  all 
day.  "  Imagine,"  he  says,  "all  distant  objects  entirely  lost  to 
view,  the  sheets  of  sand  fleeting  along  the  surface  of  the  desert 
like  streams  of  water  ;  the  whole  air  filled,  though  invisibly, 
with  a  tempest  of  sand,  driving  in  your  face  like  sleet.  Imagine 
the  caravan  toiling  against  this,  the  Bedouins,  each  with  his 
shawl  thrown  completely  over  his  head,  half  of  the  riders  sitting 
backwards  ;  the  camels,  meantime,  thus  virtually  left  without 
guidance,  though  from  time  to  time  throwing  their  long  necks 
*  Stanley,  "Sinai  and  Palestine,"  p.  13. 


64  MOSES. 

sideways,  to  avoid  the  blast,  yet  moving  straight  onwards  with 
a  painful  sense  of  duty  truly  edifying  to  behold.  .  .  .  Through 
this  tempest,  this  roaring  and  driving  tempest,  we  rode  on  the 
whole  day."  ' 

Such  scenes,  however,  are  rare.  For  the  most  part,  the 
Sinaitic  region  is  one  of  unvarying  calm  and  stillness.  By  day 
the  sun  rises  through  a  dull  haze  in  the  east,  then  springs  into 
a  clear  and  speckless  sky,  through  which  it  slowly  moves  hour 
after  hour  in  constant  unclouded  majesty,  bathing  the  earth 
in  an  unvarying  flood  of  light,  until,  towards  evening,  it  begins 
to  sink  into  the  purple  haze  that  lies  along  the  west,  and,  turning 
it  for  a  few  minutes  into  an  ensanguined  sea,  drops  down  below 
the  horizon  and  is  hid.  Night  at  once  closes  in — the  glow  in 
the  west  rapidly  fades  away — darkness  descends  upon  the  face 
of  the  earth,  and  with  darkness  a  hush  of  silence,  even  deeper 
than  that  of  the  day.  One  by  one  the  stars  come  out  in  the 
solemn,  blue-black  sky,  till  all  their  hosts  are  marshalled,  but 
only  to  look  with  many-coloured  eyes — yellow,  and  red,  and  white, 
and  violet — without  noise  and  without  motion  on  the  sleeping 
earth  beneath  them.  Even  when  the  yellow  glory  of  the  moon 
rises  above  the  horizon  and  walks,  or  rather  floats,  in  the  soft- 
ness of  the  limpid  firmament,  there  is  little  stir  of  life,  or  sound, 
or  movement.  Bats  perhaps  come  out  and  flutter  their  wings  ; 
the  cry  of  a  hyaena  or  a  jackal  is  heard  in  the  distance  ;  but 
such  sights  and  sounds  are  "  few  and  far  between,"  and  when 
they  occur,  seem  rather  to  intensify  the  stillness  than  break  it. 

The  pastoral  life  is  always  one  that  favours  contemplation. 
In  the  East,  the  shepherd  rises  with  the  early  dawn,  and  leads 
forth  his  flock  from  the  rough  sheep-folds  in  which  they  have 
passed  the  night,  going  before  them,  and  guiding  them  to  the 
pastures  whereon  he  intends  them  to  browse  during  the  ensuing 
day.  The  docile  flock  follow  him,  and  seldom  need  a  word  of 
chiding  ;  for  they  soon  understand  whither  he  is  about  to  take 
them,  and  know  they  may  trust  to  his  guidance.  When  he  has 
brought  them  to  the  spot  where  he  intends  them  to  graze,  they 
scatter  themselves,  while  he  seats  himself  and  rests  on  some 
convenient  knoll,  or  bank,  or  stone,  whence  he  can  command 
a  view  of  the  beasts  under  his  care,  and  see  that  they  do  not 
wander  away  too  far.  He  has  but  little  to  do,  except  to  main- 
tain this  watch,  which  he  does  almost  mechanically,  while  his 
*  Stanley,  "  Sinai  and  Palestine,"  pp.  67,  68. 


MOSES   IN    MIDIAN.  65 

thoughts  go  far  a-field,  imagining  the  future,  or  recalling  the 
past,  or  straying  into  those  speculative  inquiries  concerning 
God,  and  man,  and  nature,  and  the  mystery  of  life,  which  have 
always  had  charms  for  Oriental  minds,  and  given  them  unending 
occupation.  Moses  could  perhaps  not  be  always  quite  alone 
while  he  was  shepherding  ;  for  as  a  head  herdsman,  to  whom 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  flock  of  a  great  sheikh  was  in- 
trusted, he  would  have  subordinates  to  help  him  in  his  task, 
and  would  have  to  give  them  orders  and  see  to  their  execution. 
But  still  there  would  be  long  hours  during  each  day  when 
practically  he  would  be  by  himself,  face  to  face  with  nature  and 
with  God,  unconsciously  drinking  in  the  influences  of  his  sur- 
roundings, gaining  mental  strength  and  vigour  from  his  contact 
with  the  simplicity  and  solemnity  of  nature.  At  the  same  time 
he  would  be  disciplining  his  body  by  spare  and  simple  meals, 
by  much  walking  in  the  open  air,  by  sleep  on  the  ground, 
short  nights,  and  early  risings  ;  while  he  invigorated  his  whole 
character  by  communing  with  himself  and  with  God,  by  deep 
"  searchings  of  heart,"  sharp  questionings  of  conscience,  reflec- 
tions upon  his  past  life,  repentance  of  his  sins,  and  good  reso- 
lutions with  respect  to  the  future.  A  long  spell  of  solitude,  or 
comparative  solitude,  is  of  the  highest  value  for  the  formation 
of  a  high,  a  noble,  and  a  commanding  personality.  Elijah's 
life  was  chiefly  passed  in  the  wilds  of  Gilead,  far  away  from  the 
haunts  of  men.  John  the  Baptist  "was  in  the  deserts"  from 
the  time  of  his  early  childhood  "till  the  day  of  his  showing 
unto  Israel "  (Luke  i.  80),  when  he  was  fully  thirty  years  of  age. 
St.  Paul,  after  his  conversion  and  baptism,  withdrew  for  three 
years  into  Arabia  (Gal.  i.  17,  18).  The  saints  of  God  generally 
have  found  the  advantage  of  long  periods  of  retirement  from 
the  bustle  of  active  life,  and  have  refreshed  and  recruited  their 
souls  by  removing  into  deserts,  or  hermitages,  or  convents,  and 
there  passing  months  or  years. 

Had  Moses  during  these  years  any  presentiment  of  his  future, 
and  did  he  consciously  seek  to  prepare  himself  for  it  ?  Our 
answer  must  be  negative.  Unless  Divinely  warned,  Moses  could 
have  no  expectation  of  what  was  about  to  befall  him,  and  there 
is  no  reason  to  think  that  he  was  Divinely  warned.  When  the 
time  for  his  call  came,  it  came  upon  him  as  a  new  thing,  utterly 
strange  to  his  thoughts,  utterly  unexpected — "Who  am  I  that  I 
■should  go  unto  Pharaoh?"  (Exod.  iii.  11).     No!     He  was  n»* 

6 


66  MOSES. 

preparin.^  himself  during  these  many  years  for  the  leadership 
of  a  difficult  and  dangerous  enterprise  which  would  tax  all  his 
powers  to  the  utmost ;  but  the  providence  of  God  was  preparing 
him  for  it.  Divine  foreknowledge,  which  sees  the  end  from  the 
beginning,  and  knows  the  best  means  to  employ,  was  directing 
and  shaping  his  life  in  the  way  that  was  most  apt  to  fit  him  for 
the  coming  enterprise,  to  strengthen  his  resolution,  to  ripen  his 
powers,  to  draw  him  into  that  constant  close  communion  with 
God  which  is  the  only  sure  support  and  stay  of  the  soul  under 
the  strain  and  pressure  of  extreme  difficulties.  As  the  healthy 
air  of  the  desert,  pure  and  dry,  untainted  by  human  defilements, 
braced  his  physical  nature,  so  that  when  he  died  at  the  age  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  years,  "his  eye  was  not  dim,  neither 
his  natural  force  abated  "  (Deut.  xxxiv.  7),  so  the  spiritual  at- 
mosphere in  which  he  lived  kept  his  soul  braced  for  doing  and 
for  suffering,  qualifying  him  for  his  high  post  and  for  those 
arduous  duties  which  would  have  overtaxed  the  strength  of  any 
one  unsustained  by  heavenly  influences. 

In  the  quiet  round  of  unceasing  daily  duties,  the  life  of  Moses 
must  have  slipped  almost  imperceptibly  away.  With  a  reticence 
characteristic  of  the  truly  great,  who  are  almost  always  humble- 
minded,  he  passes  over  with  scant  notice  the  "  forty  years  "  of 
his  Midiani'.e  sojourn,  allowing  us  but  a  few  fleeting  glimpses 
either  of  his  daily  life  or  of  his  thoughts  and  feelings.  From 
slight  and  scattered  notices  we  gather  :  first,  that  after  a  while 
Reuel  died,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  headship  of  the  tribe  by 
his  son,  Jelher,  or  Jethro,  who  continued  in  the  priestly  office 
held  by  his  father,  and  was  a  monotheist,  worshipping  the  same 
God  as  Moses  with  sacrifice  and  praise  (Exod.  xviii.  10-12). 
Jethro  would  thus  be  Moses'  brother-in-law,' not  his  "father- 
in-law,"  as  the  Authorized  Version  makes  him  ;  but,  as  head  of 
the  tribe,  would  hold  towards  Moses  almost  the  same  position 
as  his  father.  Moses  continued  to  "keep  the  flock,"  which  had 
been  Reuel's  and  was  now  Jethro's,  in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai. 
He  moved  from  one  part  of  the  w'ilderness  to  another  (Exod. 
iii.  i),  according  to  the  time  of  year  or  the  condition  of  the 
pasturage.     His  home  was  probably  a  tent  of  the  better  class  ; 

*  So  Ranke  (*'  Pentateuch,"  ii.  8)  and  others.  It  is  generally  allowed 
that  tlie  word  Ifin,  like  the  Greek  yan(3png,  may  mean  '*  father-in-law," 
"  brother-in-law,"'  or  "  son-in-law.'' 


MOSES   IN    MIDI  AN.  67 

and  here  he  dwelt,  near  the  sheep-folds,  with  his  Midianitish 
wife,  the  Zipporah  whom  Reuel  had  given  to  him  in  marriage 
soon  after  he  arrived  in  his  country  (Exod.  ii,  21).  Zipporah 
bore  him  two  sons,  but  apparently  no  other  children.  It  is  in 
recording  the  names  of  these  two  sons,  the  props  of  his  house, 
that  Moses  gives  the  only  indications,  which  he  allows  to  appear, 
of  the  feelings  that  stirred  his  heart  during  his  exile.  To  his 
firstborn,  borne  to  him  by  Zipporah  while  the  grief  of  being  an 
exile  was  still  fresh  to  him  and  rankled  in  his  mind,  he  gave 
the  name  of  Gershom — "a  stranger  there" — "for  he  said,  I 
have  been  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land."  Surely  there  is  pathos 
here  !  Months,  years  have  gone  by,  he  is  welcomed,  honoured, 
received  into  a  chiefs  family,  trusted,  loved  ;  but  he  still  feels 
that  he  is  among  strangers,  not  among  "  his  own  people,"  far 
from  parents,  and  brother,  and  sister,  and  kinsfolk,  and 
countrymen,  and  old  friends — a  stranger,  an  alien.  The  land 
is  foreign  to  him.  It  is  not  the  land  on  which  his  eyes  have 
been  accustomed  to  look  from  infancy  to  youth,  and  from  youth 
to  middle  age.  All  is  new  and  strange  in  it.  How  different 
the  awful  blood-red  rocks  from  the  green  plains  of  the  Delta  ! 
How  unlike  the  parched  and  dried-up  watercourses  to  the 
abounding  stream  of  the  Nile  !  It  is  a  strange  land,  and  a 
strange  peo[)le.  What  sharper  contrast  possible  than  that  be- 
tween the  elaborate,  formalized,  thoroughly  artificial  civilization 
of  Egypt,  and  the  simple,  unsophisticated — it  may  be,  somewhat 
rude  life  of  the  desert  .'*  One  a  land  of  cities,  and  temples,  and 
palaces,  and  canals,  and  ships,  and  active  bustle— the  other 
calm,  silent,  without  buildings,  almost  without  inhabitants  ! 
Without  any  longing  for  "the  fleshpots  of  Egypt,"  or  any  undue 
hankering  after  the  pleasures  and  treasures  (Heb.  xi.  25,  26) 
which  he  had  foregone,  Moses  may  well  have  felt  the  sadness 
of  exile,  and  have  regretted  the  separation  from  all  that  he  had 
for  so  many  years  held  dear. 

The  name  which  Moses  gave  to  his  second-born  was  Eli-ezer 
— "  my  God  hath  holpen  me."  Now  has  come  a  reaction  in 
his  feelings.  He  no  longer  complaiiis,  but  rejoices.  He  has 
become  conscious  that  in  his  former  querulousness  there  was 
incrratitude  to  the  God  who  had  ordered  all  his  life, had  saved  him 
in  in'ancy  from  an  untimely  death,  had  caused  him  to  be  cared 
for  and  educated,  had  preserved  him  from  the  perils  of  war,  and 
had  finally  delivered  him  from  the  Pha  aoh  who  sought  his  life. 


68  MOSES. 

He'named  his  second  son  Eli-ezer, "  because,"  he  said,  "  the  God 
of  my  father  was  mine  help,  and  delivered  me  from  the  sword  of 
Pharaoh"  (Exod.  xviii.  4).  The  Pharaoh  had  "sought  to  slay 
him  "  (Exod,  ii.  15),  when  he  fled,  had  probably  sent  emissaries 
after  him,  to  arrest  him,  or  kill  him  if  he  resisted.  But  God 
had  been  his  helper — not  by  his  own  strength,  or  caution,  or 
wisdom,  or  cunning,  had  he  escaped  the  danger  that  threatened 
him,  but  by  God's  goodness  and  protecting  care.  The  recogni- 
tion of  God's  goodness  in  the  past  must  have  thrown  the  light 
of  hope  upon  the  future,  and  have  enabled  the  exile  to  take  a 
more  cheerful  view  of  his  position  and  prospects  than  he  had 
taken  previously — must  have,  at  any  rate,  made  him  content  to 
bear  his  burdens,  such  as  they  were,  patiently,  and  leave  the 
future  to  be  determined  for  him  by  the  will  of  the  most  gracious 
and  All-wise  Ruler  of  all  things. 

There  is  among  the  Egyptian  novelettes  a  tale  which  offers, 
in  some  respects,  a  curious  parallel  to  this  portion  of  the  history 
of  Moses.  It  is  called  "The  Story  of  Saneha."  ^  Saneha,  a 
courtier  in  the  time  of  Usurtasen  I.,  having  conceived  a  dis- 
gust at  the  Court  life,  and  a  desire  for  a  position  of  greater 
independence  and  freedom,  sets  out  secretly  upon  his  travels 
without  the  leave  of  the  Pharaoh.  With  some  difficulty  he 
passes  the  Eastern  boundary,  and  proceeds  on  foot  through 
the  desert.  There  he  suffers  agonies  from  thirst,  until  his  wants 
are  relieved  by  a  native  of  the  region  which  he  is  traversing,  a 
keeper  of  cattle,  who,  though  recognizing  him  as  an  Egyptian 
(Exod.  ii.  19),  supplies  him  both  with  water  and  milk.  Saneha 
continues  his  journeying,  and  is  brought  on  "  from  place  to 
place,"  till  he  reaches  Atima  (Edom).  There  the  chief  of  the 
country,  or  of  one  adjoining,  sends  for  him,  receives  him  into 
his  household,  questions  him  concerning  his  past,  and  ends  by 
giving  him  his  daughter  in  marriage.  "  He  placed  me  over  his 
children,"  Saneha  says  ;  "he  married  me  to  his  eldest  daughter  ; 
he  endowed  me  with  a  part  of  his  land,  of  the  choicest  which 
belonged  to  him."  Saneha  enjoyed  now  the  liberty  which  he 
had  desired.     "  Licence,"  he  says,   "  was  conferred  on  me  of 

*  The  "Story  of  Saneha,"  first  published  by  Lepsius  in  his  "  Denk- 
maler  ''  (vol.  vi.  pis.  104  et  seq.),  has  been  translated  into  French  by  M. 
Chabas  ("  Les  Papyrus  Hieratiques  de  Berlin,  recits  d'il  y  a  quatre  mille 
ans,"  Paris,  1863),  and  into  English  by  Mr.  C.  W.  Goodwin  ("  Records  of 
the  Past,"  vol.  vi.  pp.  135-150). 


MOSES  IN   MIDI  AN.  69 

going  wherever  I  chose."  In  this  honourable  and  prosperous 
condition  Saneha  tells  us  that  he  "  passed  many  years." 
During  this  period  "children  were  born  to  him  ;  they  became 
strong,  each  one  a  valiant  ruler  over  his  servants.'  A  still 
higher  degree  of  prosperity  follows — the  king,  or  sheikh,  "  was 
satisfied  with  him,  loved  him,  made  him  the  chief  of  his  chil- 
dren." But,  while  thus  externally  flourishing,  and  surrounded 
by  all  that  the  heart  of  man  commonly  desires,  Saneha  was 
discontented,  unhappy.  Nothing  could  be  a  compensation  to 
him  for  what  he  had  left  in  his  own  land.  So,  after  a  time,  his 
longing  is  to  return  home,  to  see  once  more  the  land  where  he 
was  born.  And  the  result  for  which  he  so  ardently  longs  is 
brought  about.  A  way  is  opened  for  his  return  to  Egypt,  the 
sheikh  gives  his  consent,  and  the  fugitive  returns  to  the 
Pharaoh's  court,  and  is  once  more  numbered  among  his  coun- 
sellors. It  is  not  pretended  that  the  parallel  between  this  tale 
and  the  history  of  Moses  is  close  ;  but  the  position  of  Moses  is 
illustrated  in  several  points,  and  the  movements  of  a  refugee 
from  the  Pharaonic  court,  and  the  possibility  of  a  return  after 
long  years  of  absence,  are  put  before  us  in  a  lively  and  graphic 
way,  which  gives  them  a  certain  interest. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  RETURN  TO   EGYPT. 

Events  in  Egypt  during  the  absence  of  Moses — Peace  made  with  the 
Hittites — Peace  cemented  by  an  intermarriage — Attention  of  Ramesses 
II.  turned  to  the  construction  of  great  works — Increased  sufferings  of 
the  Israelites — Death  of  Ramesses  II. — His  character — Menephthah 
continues  the  oppression — God's  appearance  to  Moses  in  the  bush — 
His  call — His  resistance  to  the  call — The  punishment  of  his  resistance 
— The  ground  of  it — Relations  of  Moses  with  Jethro— He  is  allowed 
to  depart,  but  lingers — Picture  of  his  departure — His  dangerous  ill- 
ness and  its  consequences — His  meeting  with  Aaron. 

During  the  absence  of  Moses  in  Midian — a  period  of  between 
thirty  and  forty  years,  according  to  the  Jewish  tradition — the 
oppression  of  the  children  of  Israel  in  Egypt  had  continued, 
and  had  become  more  and  more  severe.  Ramesses  II.  was 
upon  the  throne,  ruling  singly  after  his  father's  decease,  and 
applying  all  his  vast  energies  to  the  construction  of  enormous 
works,  partly  ostentatious,  partly  defensive,  in  various  parts  of 
his  empire.  The  days  of  his  great  military  expeditions  were 
over.  He  had,  after  a  long  and  bloody  struggle,  terminated  his 
differences  with  the  Hittites  by  a  solemn  treaty  and  an  inter- 
marriage. An  agreement  had  been  drawn  up  and  signed,  and 
engraved  upon  a  plate  of  silver,  whereby  Khitasir,  his  great 
antagonist,  and  himself  covenanted  to  be  thenceforth  friends 
and  allies — they,  and  their  sons,  and  their  sons'  sons,  for  ever. 
The  high  contracting  powers  were  in  all  respects  placed  on 
terms  of  equality.  Khitasir,  the  puissant,  son  of  Marasar,  the 
puissant,  and  grandson  of  Saplal,  the  puissant,  undertook  to  be 
a  good  friend  and  brother  to  Ramesses-Meriamen,  the  puissant, 


THE    RETURN   TO   EGYPT.  7 1 

son  of  Seti-Menephthah,  thepuissant,  and  grandson  of  Ramesses- 
Ramenpehti,  the  puissant,  and  Ramesses-Merianien,  tlie  puis- 
sant, (Sic,  undertook  to  be  a  good  friend  and  brother  to  Khitasir, 
the  puissant,  t!\:c.  Khitasir  engaged  under  no  circumstances  to 
invade  the  land  of  Egypt,  to  carry  away  anything  from  it,  for 
ever  ;  and  Ramesses  engaged  under  no  circumstances  to  invade 
the  land  of  Khita,  to  carry  away  anything  from  it,  for  ever. 
Each  bound  himself,  if  the  other  were  attacked,  either  to  come 
in  person,  or  to  send  his  forces  to  the  other's  assistance.  Each 
pledged  himself  to  the  extradition  both  of  criminals  fleeing 
from  justice  and  of  any  other  subjects  wishing  to  transfer  their 
allegiance.  Each,  at  the  same  time,  stipulated  for  an  amnesty 
of  oftences  in  the  case  of  all  persons  thus  surrendered.  The 
treaty  was  placed  under  the  protection  of  the  gods  of  the  two 
countries,  who  were  invoked  respectively  to  protect  observers 
and  punish  infringers  of  it.^ 

Some  years  later  the  friendship  was  cemented  by  an  inter- 
marriage. Ramesses  seems  to  have  proposed  and  the  Hittite 
monarch  to  have  given  his  consent  to  the  connection.  The 
daughter  of  Khitasir,  who  on  her  marriage  exchanged  her 
Hittite  name  for  the  Egyptian  one  of  Ur-maa-nefru-ra,  was 
conducted  by  Khitasir  himself,  "  clad  in  the  dress  of  his  coun- 
try," to  the  palace  of  the  Egyptian  monarch  ;  the  nuptials  were 
celebrated  ;  Ur-maa-nefru-ra  was  proclaimed  as  Queen  Consort 
of  her  royal  spouse,  and  Khitasir,  after  receiving  hospitable 
entertainment,  returned  to  his  own  land.^  The  two  contiguous 
empires  were  thus  brought  into  perfect  harmony  and  agree- 
ment ;  peace  was  secured,  at  any  rate  for  some  considerable 
space  ;  and  Ramesses  was  able  to  turn  his  thoughts  to  those 
gigantic  works  which  mainly  occupied  his  later  years. 

These  works  were  of  various  kinds.  Some  were  temples, 
either  built  in  the  ordinary  way  of  huge  blocks  of  hewn  stone, 
or  else  carved  out  of  the  solid  rock,  as  that  of  Ipsambul  in 
Nubia.  Others  were  palaces  for  his  own  abode,  with  corridors, 
and  courts,  and  pillared  halls,  and  huge  colossi  representing 
his  own  august  person,  and  internally  ornamented  with  coloured 
bas-reliefs  commemorative  of  his  own  actions.  A  consider- 
able number  were  cities,  either  begun  by  his  father  and  com- 
pleted by  himself,  or  entirely  of  his  own  construction,  as  Pa-Tum 

*  "  Records  of  the  Past,''  vol.  iv.  pp.  27-32. 

•  Brugsch,  "  History  of  Egypt,''  vol.  ii.  p.  75. 


72  MOSES. 

(or  Pithom),  Pa-Ramessu  (Raamses),  Pa-Phthah,  Pa-Ra,  Pa- 
Ammon,  &c.  Among  them  were  also  his  Great  Canal,  and  his 
Great  Wall,  the  former  connecting  the  Nile  with  the  Red  Sea, 
and  running  from  near  Bubastis  by  way  of  Pithom  to  the  Bitter 
Lakes,  and  thence  to  Suez — the  other  carried  from  a  point  near 
Pelusium  across  the  Isthmus  to  the  inner  recess  of  the  western 
arm  of  the  Red  Sea.  It  was  in  the  execution  of  these  works 
that  the  Israelites  suffered  the  main  portion  of  their  afflictions. 
Pithom  and  Pa-Ramessu,  begun  by  Seti,  but  completed  by 
Ramesses  II.,  were  certainly  the  work  of  their  hands  ;  and  they 
were  not  improbably  employed  also  in  building  the  other  cities. 
Or,  if  they  did  not  build  them,  they  at  any  rate  made  the  bricks 
for  them.  And  they  probably  were  largely  employed  in  the 
construction  of  the  Great  Canal  and  the  Great  Wall.  The 
Great  Wall  skirted  the  edge  of  their  special  country,  Goshen, 
which  lay  along  the  eastern  frontier,  between  the  Pelusiac 
branch  of  the  Nile  and  the  Desert ;  the  Great  Canal  was  in 
their  immediate  neighbourhood,  and  passed  close  to  Pithom — 
one  of  the  cities  which  they  are  expressly  stated  to  have  built. 
Ramesses  had,  no  doubt,  an  enormous  command  of  human 
labour  by  reason  of  the  multitude  of  prisoners  taken  in  his 
many  wars  ;  but  still  his  constructions  were  so  vast  and  so  nume- 
rous, that  this  multitude  would  not  have  sufficed  had  not  their 
services  been  supplemented  by  that  of  the  subject  races  dwelling 
in  Egypt — Hebrews,  Shartana,  and  others. 

And  the  motive,  which  had  originally  lain  at  the  root  of  the 
Israelite  oppression,  was  still  active  and  vigorous,  still  one  that 
ruled  the  policy  of  Egypt,  and  was  regarded  in  governmental  circles 
as  of  constraining  force.  The  Hebrew  people  were  still  viewed 
as  a  danger,  their  multiplication  as  a  thing  to  be  checked,  their 
aspirations  and  energies  as  needing  repression.  Philo  tells  us  * 
that  the  taskmasters  continually  became  more  and  more  savage, 
that  many  of  them  were  "  wild  beasts  in  human  shape,  as  cruel 
as  poisonous  snakes  and  carnivorous  tigers,  with  hearts  as  hard 
as  steel  or  adamant,  utterly  pitiless,  and  unwilling  to  make 
allowance  for  any  shortcoming,  whatever  its  cause."  And  he 
declares  that  the  result  was  a  great  mortality  among  the  op- 
pressed people,  who  perished  in  heaps,  as  though  they  had  been 
stricken  by  some  fearful  plague,  and  were  not  even  allowed 
burial,  but  were  cast  out  beyond  the  borders  of  the  land,  to 
'  "  Vit.  Mosis,"  pp.  86,  87. 


THE   RETURN  TO   EGYPT.  73 

moulder  away  on  the  bare  sand,  or  to  be  devoured  by  vultures 
and  jackals. 

"  In  process  of  time,"  however,  the  king,  who  had  inflicted  all 
this  misery — of  whom  a  modern  writer  says,  that "  there  was  not 
a  stone  in  his  monuments  which  had  not  cost  a  human  life" ' — 
went  the  way  of  all  flesh,  sickened  and  died  (Exod.  ii.  23).  He 
had  reached  the  age  of  seventy-seven  years,  one  rarely  attained 
by  Egyptian  monarchs,  and  was  in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his 
reign,  counting  from  the  time  when  he  was  associated  upon  the 
throne  by  his  father.  In  person,  tall  and  handsome,  with  a  good 
forehead,  a  large,  well-formed,  slightly  aquiline  nose,  a  well- 
shaped  mouth,  lips  that  are  not  too  full,  a  small  delicate  chin, 
and  eyes  that  are  thoughtful  and  pensive  ;  he  had  well  trained 
himself  in  warlike  exercises,  and  was  physically  a  perfect  type 
of  the  most  highly-bred,  partly  Semitized,  Egyptian.  In  his 
early  wars  he  greatly  distinguished  himself,  and  the  "  Epic 
Poem  "  of  Pentaour,  engraved  upon  the  walls  of  more  than  one 
of  his  temples,  is  an  undying  commemoration  of  his  martial 
exploits.  He  seems  not  to  have  been  wanting  in  natural  affec- 
tion, and  both  towards  his  father  and  towards  his  eldest  son  he 
expresses  himself  upon  his  monuments  with  tenderness.  But  all 
this  promise,  all  these  natural  advantages  and  endowments,  were 
marred  and  spoilt  by  an  overweening  vanity  and  arrogance,  fos- 
tered by  the  circumstances  of  his  life,  by  his  father's  too  partial 
fondness,  by  his  own  successes,  by  the  flattery  and  adulation 
that  surrounded  him,  and  increasing  ever  more  and  more  as 
time  went  on,  until  it  became  an  absorbing  and  impious  egotism. 
Notwithstanding  his  professed  regard  for  his  father,  Ramesses 
in  his  later  years  showed  himself  his  father's  worst  enemy,  by 
erasing  his  name  from  the  monuments  upon  which  it  had  been  in- 
scribed,andin  many  instancessubstituting  his  own.  Amid  a  great 
show  of  regard  for  the  deities  of  his  country,  and  for  the  ordinances 
of  the  established  worship,  he  contrived  that  the  chief  result  of 
all  that  he  did  for  religion  should  be  the  glorification  of  himself. 
Other  kings  had  arrogated  to  themselves  a  certain  qualified 
divinity,  and  after  their  deaths  had  sometimes  been  placed  by 
some  of  their  successors  on  a  par  with  the  real  national  gods  ; 
but  it  remained  for  Ramesses  II.  to  associate  himself  during 
his  lifetime  with  such  leading  deities  as  Ra  and  Tum,  as  Phthah, 
Ammon,  and  Horus,  and  to  claim  equally  with  them  the  religious 
*  Lenormant,  "  Manuel  d'histoire  Ancienne,"  vol.  i.  p.  423. 


74  MOSES. 

regards  of  his  subjects.  As  vanity  made  him  trench  on  the 
prerogatives  of  ihe  gods,  so  it  made  him  careless  of  the  lives 
and  sufferings  of  men.  To  obtain  the  glory  of  being,  as  he  is, 
indisputably  the  greatest  of  Egyptian  builders,  he  utterly  disre- 
garded the  cries  and  groans  of  those  over  whom  he  ruled  ;  he 
exacted  forced  labour  from  all  the  subject  races  within  his 
dominions  pitilessly.  As  M.  Lenormant  observes  :  "  It  is  not 
without  a  feeling  of  absolute  horror  that  one  can  picture  to  one- 
self the  thousands  of  captives  who  must  have  died  under  the  rod 
of  the  taskmasters,  or  victims  of  excessive  fatigue  and  of  priva- 
tions of  all  sorts,  while  they  were  erecting  by  their  forced  labour 
the  gigantic  constructions  in  which  the  insatiable  vanity  of  the 
Egyptian  monarch  took  a  delight."  ^ 

Ramesses,  however,  was  dead — the  God,  of  whom  he  had 
made  himself  the  rival,  and  whose  people  he  had  used  so  cruelly, 
had  called  him  to  his  last  account — and  the  unfortunate  wretches 
employed  upon  the  public  works  in  progress  may  have  momen- 
tarily breathed  more  freely,  and  felt  a  sense  of  relief  Princes 
are  always  popular  on  their  coronation  day  ;  and  the  son  who 
had  succeeded  Ramesses  II.,  a  weak  prince,  not  credited  with 
much  ambition,  might  have  seemed  unlikely  to  continue  his 
father's  policy  of  severe  and  cruel  oppression.  But  it  soon  be- 
came apparent,  that  Menephthah  had  neither  the  goodness  of 
heart  nor  the  strength  of  character  that  would  lead  him  to  initiate 
a  change.  Though,  comparatively  speaking,  unambitious,  and 
free  from  any  desire  to  astonish  posterity  by  vast  constructive 
works  of  any  kind,  he  was  yet  inclined  to  carry  on  various  con- 
structions left  incomplete  by  his  father,  and  even  to  set  others 
on  foot  in  different  parts  of  the  empire.  Thus,  any  expectations 
which  the  Israelites  may  have  formed  of  their  sufferings  being 
alleviated  in  consequence  of  his  accession,  were  disappointed. 
"The  king  of  Egypt  died  ;  and  the  children  of  Israel"  still 
"  sighed  by  reason  of  the  bondage  ;  and  they  cried,  and  their  cry 
came  up  unto  God  by  reason  of  the  bondage."  The  affliction 
continued  equally  bitter,  the  labour  equally  hard  ;  the  task- 
masters still  plied  their  sticks  (Exod.  iii.  7)  ;  the  Israelites 
"groaned"  (Exod.  ii.  24) ;  and  their  cry  went  up  to  heaven. 

Under  these  circumstances  God  once  more  "came  down" 
(Exod.  iii.  8),  not,  however,  this  time  to  investigate,"  but  to  de- 

*  Lenormant,  "  Manuel,"  vol.  i.  p.  423. 

*  As  when  the  Tower  of  Babel  was  built  (Gen.  xi.  5),  and  when  Sodom 
was  about  to  be  punished  (Gen.  xviii.  21) 


THE   RETURN   TO   EGYPT.  75 

liver.  "  He  had  seen,  He  had  seen  the  affliction  of  His  people 
which  were  in  Egypt  " — He  "  had  heard  their  groaning  "  (Exod. 
ii.  24),  and  remembered  His  covenant  with  Abraham,  with 
Isaac,  and  with  Jacob  ;  He  had  determined  within  Himself'  that 
the  time  was  come  both  for  vengeance  and  for  deHverance,  and 
had  settled  what  should  be  the  method  of  the  deliverance,  and 
who  should  be  the  deliverer.  It  remained  that  He  should  execute 
His  purposes. 

The  first  step  was  to  recall  Moses  from  the  land  of  Midian  to 
Egypt,  and  formally  to  give  him  a  commission  to  deliver  the 
people.  "  Moses  kept  the  flock  of  Jethro,  his  brother-in-law, 
the  priest  of  Midian  ;  and  he  led  the  flock  to  the  back 
of  the  wilderness" — far  from  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea, 
where  Jethro  seems  to  have  dwelt,  "  and  came  to  the  mountain 
of  God,  even  to  Horeb"  (Exod.  iii.  i).  We  do  not  know  the 
precise  place  ;  but  "  a  tradition,  reaching  back  to  the  sixth  cen- 
tury of  the  Christian  era,  fixes  it  in  the  same  deep  seclusion  as 
that  to  which  in  all  probability  Moses  afterwards  led  the  Israel- 
ites. The  convent  of  Justinian  is  built  over  what  was  supposed 
to  be  the  exact  spot  where  the  shepherd  was  bid  to  draw  his 
sandals  from  off  his  feet."  '  This  spot  is  on  the  right  flank  of 
Sinai,  in  a  narrow  valley,  called  the  Wady  Shoaib,  which  runs 
south-eastward  from  the  great  plain  in  front  of  the  Ras-Sufsafeh, 
whence  it  is  almost  certain  that  the  Law  was  delivered, 
and  the  narrower  plain  of  the  Wady-Sebayeh  at  the  eastern 
foot  of  the  Jebel  Mousa.  Here,  or  at  any  rate  in  this  neighbour- 
hood, as  Moses  walked  with  his  flock,  pasturing  it,  there  sud- 
denly appeared  to  him,  a  httle  out  of  his  direct  path  (Exod.  iii. 
4),  a  wonderful  sight.  Upon  the  mountain-side  was  a  well- 
known  shittim,  or  acacia,  tree — "  the  thorn-tree  of  the  desert, 
spreading  out  its  tangled  branches,  thick-set  with  white  thorns, 
over  the  rocky  ground."*  This  tree,  as  Moses  approached, 
appeared  to  him  all  ablaze  with  light,  as  if  on  fire  ;  but  instead 
of  the  branches  crackling  and  shrivelling  up,  as  they  would  have 
done  naturally  had  the  fire  been  real,  the  whole  tree  remained 
unconsumed,  the  flames  merely  playing  about  it.  Then  said 
Moses  :  "  I  will  now  turn  aside,  and  see  this  great  sight,  why 
the  bush  is  not  burnt  "  (Exod.  iii.  3).  Accordingly,  he  ascended 
the  hill-side,  and  approached  the  phenomenon  to  examine  it, 

'  Stanley,  "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,  "  vol.  i.  p.  107. 
'  Stanley,  in  Smith's  "  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  vol.  ii.  p.  427. 


76  MOSES. 

when  a  voice  called  to  him  from  the  midst  of  the  flames,  and  he 
at  once  understood  that  he  was  the  object  of  a  Divine  manifes- 
tation. First  he  was  addressed  by  name  like  Samuel  (i  Sam. 
iii.  lo),  and  St.  Paul  (Acts  ix.  4),  the  voice  calling  out,  "  Moses, 
Moses."  Then  he  was  bidden  not  to  draw  too  near,  and  warned, 
that,  as  the  place  was  holy,  it  became  him  to  loose  his  sandals 
from  off  his  feet,  as  Orientals  do  when  they  enter  a  place  of 
worship.  Finally,  he  was  told  who  it  was  that  addressed  him, 
and  what  he  was  required  to  do. 

No  angel  had  been  sent  to  speak  to  him  ;  but  God  had  come 
down  Himself — "the  God  of  his  father,  the  God  of  Abraham, 
the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob"  (ver.  6) — the  same 
that  had  appeared  and  spoken  with  the  patriarchs  on  so  many 
occasions —doubtless,  the  Second  Person  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
the  Word  or  Son  of  God,  the  Mediator  between  God  and  man, 
the  "  Messenger  of  the  Covenant."  So  Moses  "  hid  his  face  ; 
for  he  was  afraid  to  look  upon  God."  Prostrate  in  worship  he 
listened  while  Jehovah  spake  and  said  :  "  I  have  seen,  I  have 
seen  the  afiliction  of  my  people  which  are  in  Egypt,  and  have 
heard  their  cry  by  reason  of  their  taskmasters  ;  for  I  know  their 
sorrows  ;  and  I  am  come  down  to  deliver  them  out  of  the  hand 
of  the  Egyptians,  and  to  bring  them  up  out  of  that  land  unto  a 
good  land  and  a  large,  unto  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey, 
unto  the  place  of  the  Canaanites.  .  .  .  Now,  therefore,  behold, 
the  cry  of  the  children  of  Israel  has  come  unto  Me  ;  and  I  have 
also  seen  the  oppression  wherewith  the  Egyptians  oppress  them. 
Conic  now,  therefore,  and  /  %uill  se?id  tJiee  iDito  Pharaoh^  that 
thou  uiayest  b7'i)ig  foiih  My  people^  the  children  of  Israel,  out  of 
Egypf''  (vers.  7-10).  The  mission  was  clear,  plain,  unmistak- 
able— the  people  were  to  be  delivered,  to  be  led  out  of  Egypt 
into  Palestine  ;  Moses  was  to  be  their  leader,  and,  as  a  first 
step,  he  was  to  go  and  to  plead  their  cause  before  Pharaoh. 

But  Moses  was  unwilling.  He  distrusted  his  fitness  for  the 
task.  Unlike  Isaiah,  whose  prompt  response  to  God's  call  was, 
"  Here  am  I— send  me  "  (Isa.  vi.  8j,  but  like  Jeremiah,  who,  when 
appointed  to  be  a  prophet,  exclaimed  :  "  Ah,  Lord  God  !  Be- 
hold, I  cannot  speak  ;  for  I  am  a  child"  (Jer.  i.  6),  Moses  was 
reluctant  to  undertake  the  task  assigned  him.  "  Who  am  I,"  he 
said,  "  that  I  should  go  unto  Pharaoh,  and  that  I  should  bring 
forth  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt  ?"  (Exod.  iii.  1 1).  Pro- 
bably he  thought  that  his  long  sojourn  in  the  wilderness,  his 


THE   RETURN   TO   EGYPT.  77 

shepherd's  life,  his  comparative  rusticity,  and  hisobhvion  of  the 
habitsofcourts,  unsuited  him  for  the  part  which  he  was  now 
called  upon  to  play,  and  made  it  almost  certain  that  he  would 
fail.     He  may  also  have  regarded  his  age,  since  he  was  not  far 
short  of  eighty  years  old,  as  disqualifying  him  for  the  active 
duties   which  under  the  circumstances  would,  it  might   have 
seemed,  have  to  be  discharged  by  a  deliverer.    He  was  diffident, 
also,  as  appears  later  (Exod.  iv.  lo),  of  his  powers  as  a  speaker, 
and  thought  that  he  would  be  unable,  with  his  "  slow  speech" 
and  "slow  tongue,"  to  persuade  either    Pharaoh   or  his  own 
countrymen.     Moses,  therefore,  like  Jeremiah,  sought  to  decline 
the  task  set  him,  preferring  to  remain  in  the  obscurity  in  which 
he  had  now  lived  for  nearly  forty  years.    But  the  purpose  of  God 
is  unchangeable.     "  Certainly,"  came  the  reply  out  of  the  midst 
of  the  glowing  flame,  "  certainly  I  will  be  with  thee  ;  and  this 
shall  be  a  token  unto  thee  that  I  have  sent  thee.     When  thou 
hast  brought  forth  the  people  out  of  Egypt,  ye  shall  serve  God 
upon  this  mountain"  (Exod.  iii.  12).     It  might  have  seemed  that 
such  a  promise  and  such  an  assurance—"  /will  be  with  thee j" 
"  When  thou  hast  brou^i^ht  forth  the  people  out  of  Egypt  "— 
would,  with  a  God-fearing  man,  have  overcome  any  reluctance, 
and  produced  a  willing  acceptance  of  the  mission  assigned.  But 
it  was  not  so.     The  diffidence  of  Moses  was  deep  seated,  invin- 
cible.    In  spite  of  the  Divine  promise  and  assurance,  objection 
after  objection  rises  to  his  lips  ;  the  people  will  ask  him  for  the 
name  of  the  God  who  has  sent  him,  and  he  will  not  know  what 
to  reply   (ver.  13);  they  will  not  believe   that   God    has   ap- 
peared to  him  at  all,  or  given  him  any  commission  (Exod.  iv. 
I)  ;  his  slowness  of  speech  will  make  his  mission  a  failure  if  he 
undertakes  it  (ver.  10).     To  each  of  these  excuses  God  con- 
descends to  make  reply.     The  Name  which  he  is  to  announce 
as  that  of  the  God  who  has  sent  him  is  to  be  Jehovah  "the  Self- 
Existent"— a  new  name  and  yet  an  old  one— old,  in  that  it  has 
been  hitherto  one  out  of  the  many  names  of  the  Almighty  (Gen. 
xxii.  14)  ;  new,  in  that  it  is  to  be  henceforth  God's  proper  name, 
and  to  be  understood  as  asserting  jc-^-existence  :  incredulity  in 
his  mission  he  is  to  meet  by  a  display  of  miracles,  three  of  which 
he  is  empowered  to  work  at  his  pleasure  (Exod.  iv.  3-9)  ;  his 
want  of  natural  eloquence   will  be  supplied  by  God,  who  will 
"  be  with  his  mouth,  and  teach  him  what  he  shall  say  "  (ver. 
12).      Thus    met   at   every   point,   and   having   nothing   more 


78  MOSES. 

that  he  can  urge,  Moses  yields,  but  even  now  with  an  ill  grace 
and  grudgingly  :  "  Send,  I  pray  thee,  by  the  hand  of  him  whom 
thou  wilt  send  " — not  "  make  any  one  Thine  apostle  so  that  it  be 
not  me  ; "  ^  but  '•'  Do  Thy  pleasure — send  any  one,  even,  if  it  so 
please  Thee,  me" — i.e.^  I  resist  no  longer — I  will  go  ;  but  I  go 
under  compulsion,  not  seeing  the  fitness  of  the  choice,  not  ex- 
pecting to  succeed,  but  simply  because  I  am  forced  to  submit  to 
Thy  will. 

Then  was  "the  anger  of  Jehovah  kindled  against  Moses" 
(ver.  14).  Only  twice  in  the  whole  course  of  the  history  is  Moses 
said  to  have  angered  God,  on  this  occasion  and  at  the  waters 
of  Meribah  (Num.  xx.  10-13  5  Deut.  i.  y]^  &c.).  Strangely 
enough,  while  there  his  fault  was  arrogance  and  an  undue  as- 
sumption of  plenary  power,  here  he  sinned,  by  an  undue  and 
obstinate  diffidence.  Self-will  may  perhaps  be  said  to  have  lain 
at  the  root  of  both  errors  ;  but  in  the  one  case  it  was  self-willed 
assumption,  in  the  other,  self-willed  renunciation  and  false 
humility.^  Each  time  the  fault  of  Moses  drew  down  upon  him 
a  temporal  punishment.  On  the  present  occasion  he  was  taken 
at  his  word.  As  he  declined  the  sole  leadership,  he  was  de» 
prived  of  the  sole  leadership.  Aaron  was  appointed  to  share 
the  office  of  leader  with  him,  and  when  speech  was  needed,  had 
to  be  the  chief  speaker  (Exod.  iv.  14).  "  In  all  outward  appear- 
ance," as  Dean  Stanley  observes,  "  as  the  chief  of  the  tribe  of 
Levi,  at  the  head  of  the  family  of  Amram,  as  the  spokesman 
and  interpreter,  as  the  first  who  '  spake  to  the  people  and  to 
Pharaoh  all  the  words  which  the  Lord  had  spoken  to  Moses,' 
and  did  the  signs  in  the  sight  of  the  people,  as  the  permanent 
inheritor  of  the  sacred  rod  or  staff,  the  emblems  of  rule  and 
power,  Aaron,  not  Moses,  must  have  been  " — in  the  eyes  of  the 
Egyptians — "the  representative  and  leader  of  Israel," ^  More- 
over, by  his  persistent  diffidence,  Moses  lost  the  possession  of 
high  gifts  which  God  was  ready  to  confer  upon  him.  The  pro- 
mise, "  I  will  be  with  thy  mouth,  and  teach  thee  what  thou  shalt 
say,"  was  equivalent  to  a  declaration  that  God  would  make  him 
eloquent,  though  he  was  not  so  by  nature  ;  and  had  the  faith  of 
Moses  been  sufficiently  strong  to  overcome  his  self-distrust, 
he  would  have  added  eloquence  and  persuasive  speech  to  his 

»  Stanley,  "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  113. 
*  Compare  the  iQiKoTa.-Ki.iVQ<ppoa\jvr)  of  St.  Paul  (Col.  ii.  18). 
3  "Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  pp.  115,  116. 


THE   RETURN  TO    EGYPr.  79 

Other  splendid  endowments.  As  it  was,  he  had  to  yield  prece- 
dence in  these  respects  to  his  otherwise  far  less  gified  brother, 
and  to  share  with  him  the  fame  which  mio^ht  have  been  all 
his  own,  of  being  the  people's  leader  and  deliverer  (Micah  vi.4). 

The  question  has  been  asked,  What  was  the  deficiency  of 
which  Moses  compl.iined,  and  which  caused  his  seh'"-distrust  ? 
Was  it  mere  shyness — the  difficulty,  which  meets  almost  every 
speaker  at  first,  of  maintaining  his  self-j  ossession  when  he 
attempts  to  address  an  audience,  of  collecting  and  commanding 
his  thoughts,  finding  words  to  express  them,  and  a  ready  power 
of  giving  his  words  utterance  ?  Or,  was  it  something  quite 
different  from  this,  such  as  "a  natural  impediment  ov/ing  to 
defect  in  the  organs  of  speech,"  as  Kalisch  thinks  ? '  A  Jewish 
tradition  is  alleged  in  support  of  this  latter  view — a  tradition 
that  Moses  had  a  difficulty  in  pronouncing  the  labials,  ^,  z/,  ;;/, 
ph^p.  But  the  expressions  used  by  Moses  himself — ''not  a 
man  of  words,"  "  slow  of  speech,"  "  of  a  slow  tongue,"  "  of 
uncircumcised  lips  " — seem  rather  to  indicate  mere  unreadiness, 
want  of  an  easy  fiow  of  words  ;  an  inability  like  that  of  Crom- 
well rather  than  like  that  of  Demosthenes — not  a  stammer,  or 
a  stutter,  or  a  lisp,  or  a  difficulty  in  the  pronunciation  of  any 
letter,  but  a  slowness  to  find  appropriate  words  for  the  expres- 
sion of  his  thoughts,  a  want  of  facility  in  the  use  of  the  weapon 
of  speech.  Such  a  defect  is  not  unusual  in  those  who  ultimately 
become  great  speakers  ;  it  belonged  to  Luther,  to  John  Knox, 
perhaps  even  to  St.  Paul,  whose  early  efforts  at  preaching  were, 
according  to  his  detractors  (2  Cor.  x.  10),  "contemptible." 
Without  any  miracle,  Moses  migl^t  have  been  led  on  in  course 
of  time,  by  use  and  practice,  to  the  eloquence  of  which  he  pro- 
nounced himself  destitute — with  God's  special  grace  assisting 
him,  he  might  have  attained  to  it,  if  not  suddenly,  yet  at  any 
rate  rapidly. 

At  length,  with  whatever  reluctance,  Moses  had  yielded  him- 
self to  the  Divine  will,  and  was  prepared,  in  conjunction  with 
Aaron,  to  undertake  the  great  and  difficult  task  assigned  him. 
But,  before  setting  out  on  his  journey  to  return  to  Egypt,  he 
must  at  least,  in  common  politeness,  announce  his  intention  to 
Jethro  ;  he  must  deliver  up  the  charge  of  Jetliro's  flock,  which 
he  had  undertaken  ;  it  may  even  have  been  necessary  that  he 
should  obtain  Jethro's  consent  to  his  departure.  It  is  not  un- 
'  See  his  Ccmmcntary  on  Exod.  iii.  10. 


8o  MOSES. 

likely,  that  when  Moses  was  accepted  into  Raguel's  family,  he 
was  formally  enrolled  as  a  member  into  the  tribe  to  which 
Raguel  belonged.  If  so,  the  tribal  law  would  probably  require 
an  express  perm.ission  from  the  head,  for  the  departure  of  a 
member  to  be  regular  and  legitimate.  The  words  of  Moses  to 
Jethro  favour  this  view  of  his  position — '"'■  Let  vie  g-o,  I  pray 
thee,^^  he  said,  "  and  return  unto  my  brethren  which  are  in 
Egypt,  and  see  whether  they  be  yet  alive"  (Exod.  iv.  i8).  He 
asks  leave,  and  asks  it  with  some  humility,  as  requesting  a 
favour,  not  as  demanding  a  right  ;  and  Jethro  grants  the  re- 
quest, grants  it  unhesitatingly  and  ungrudgingly,  in  the  few  but 
all-sufficient  words — "  Go  in  peace."  The  relations  between  the 
two  at  the  time  are  pleasingly,  if  slightly,  portrayed.  Moses 
takes  no  airs  of  grandeur  or  dignity  upon  him  on  account  of 
his  recent  appointment  to  be  God's  instrument  in  a  great  work ; 
he  has  a  grand  mission,  but  he  claims  nothing  on  account  of  it  ; 
he  has  vast  miraculous  powers,  but  he  arrogates  nothing  to 
himself  on  account  of  them  ;  he  is  his  old  simple  self ;  he  ap- 
pears before  his  employer  and  chief,  and  sues  humbly,  yet  with- 
out servility,  for  a  certain  permission  to  be  granted  him.  He 
assigns  a  reason  for  his  request,  a  sufficient  reason,  yet  one  far 
short  of  his  full  reason.  And  Jethro,  without  cavil,  or  sneer, 
or  remonstrance,  or  inconvenient  curiosity,  accepts  the  reason 
and  grants  the  request,  with  the  same  simplicity  with  which 
it  has  been  made.  He  will  lose  a  valuable  subject,  a  useful 
servant,  a  new  connection  ;  and  with  him,  he  will  lose  those 
dependent  on  him,  a  sister  to  whom  he  may  have  been  tenderly 
attached,  and  two  nephews  ;  but  he  acquiesces,  he  makes  no 
difficulty,  he  utters  no  complaint.  He  will  not  mar  the  grace 
of  his  assent  by  cold  words  of  disapproval,  much  less  by  in- 
quisitiveness  or  by  reproaches.  "  Go  in  peace,"  he  says — i.e. 
"  Go  with  my  full  good-will ;  and  may  God  prosper  thy  going. 
May  things  turn  out  for  thee  as  thou  wishest !  Peace  and 
prosperity  attend  thee  whithersoever  thou  goest  and  whereso- 
ever thou  art  !  " 

Moses  had  permission  to  depart ;  but  it  would  seem  he  did 
not  hasten  his  departure.  Various  causes  may  have  induced 
him  to  put  off  his  journey.  First,  it  may  have  been  the  hot 
season,  and  he  may  have  waited  in  order  to  travel  in  the  winter 
time.  Secondly,  was  it  safe  for  him  to  return  ?  The  king  was 
dead,  but  might  not  procedure  against  him  be  taken  by  others, 


THE   RETURN   TO    EGYPT.  8 1 

if  he  returned  ?  Thirdly,  he  had  been  told  that  Aaron  his 
brother  was  comino^  forth  from  Egypt  to  see  iiim  (Exod.  iv.  14), 
would  it  not  be  better  to  wait  till  he  arrived,  and  brought  infor 
mation  of  the  general  position  of  Egyptian  affiirs  ?  At  any 
rate,  for  whatever  reason,  he  was  delaying  his  departure  ;  and 
a  furtlier  interposition  of  the  Divine  authority  was  necessary, 
in  order  to  induce  him  to  set  out.  "  The  Lord  said  unto  Moses 
in  Midiaji^  Go,  return  into  Egypt  ;  for  all  the  men  are  dead 
who  sought  thy  life"  (Exod.  iv.  19).  The  renewed  command 
was  a  spur  to  the  laggard,  a  plain  direction  which  he  did  not 
venture  to  disobey  ;  and  the  assurance  that  his  life  was  no 
longer  sought  removed  one  objection  to  his  returning.  So  at 
length  the  decisive  step  was  taken,  and  Moses  started  on  his 
return  journey. 

The  picture  of  his  departure  (Exod.  iv.  29)  is  graphic.  ^NToses 
takes  his  wife  and  his  children — "  his  wife,  whom  he  had  won 
by  his  chivalrous  attack  on  the  Bedouin  shepherds  ;  "  and  the 
children  born  to  him  in  his  exile,  and  named  in  two  opposite 
moods  of  sorrow  and  rejoicing,  and  he  sets  his  wife  upon  his 
ass— "///<?  ass,"  the  only  beast  of  burthen  that  he  possesses — 
and  places  her  infant  son,  or  perhaps  both  her  sons,  in  her 
arms,  while,  leaning  on  his  staff,  he  manfully  trudges  by  their 
side.  It  is  no  large  cavalcade  that  goes  forth,  no  company  of 
camels  with  gay  tassels  and  jingling  bells,  no  troop  of  prancing 
horses,  no  pomp  of  chariots — one  ass  bears  all  the  treasures  of 
the  man  who  will  shortly  beard  the  Pharaoh,  and  "  spoil  the 
Egyptians,"  and  come  out  of  Egypt  with  much  substance  ;  and 
his  treasure  consists,  not  in  silver,  or  gold,  or  jewels,  or  rich 
raiment,  but  in  the  wife  and  little  ones,  which  are  all  that 
Midian  has  given  him.  Involuntarily,  as  we  contemplate  the 
picture,  our  thoughts  go  forward  to  that  other  narrow  household, 
which  went  from  Palestine  into  Egypt  in  the  days  of  Herod 
the  Great  (Matt.  ii.  14),  whose  "flight"  has  been  so  often 
represented  by  painters  ;  to  Joseph  trudging  along  the  sandy 
path,  supported  by  his  staff,  and  Mary  seated  on  the  ass  by  his 
side,  and  pressing  the  young  child  to  her  bosom.  Here  the 
interest  is  concentrated  on  the  aged  man,  there  on  the  infant 
child  ;  here  danger  is  being  afl'ronted,  there  it  is  being  escaped; 
but  in  both  cases  the  journey  is  being  undertaken  at  the  express 
command  of  God,  its  outward  circumstances  are  similar,  and 
it  is  necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of  God's  purposes  with 

7 


82  MOSES. 

respect  to  man.  If  Moses  does  not  go  into  Egypt,  there  will 
be  no  deliverance  of  the  fleshly  Israel  from  their  oppressors  ; 
if  the  "  young  child  "  be  not  carried  thither  out  of  the  reach  of 
Herod,  there  will  be  no  deliverance  of  the  spiritual  Israel  from 
sin  and  Satan. 

The  journey  has  little  more  than  commenced  when  it  is  in- 
terrupted by  a  strange  incident.  At  one  of  the  halting-places, 
where  there  was  perhaps  a  khan  or  caravanserai,  Moses  is 
struck  down  by  a  sudden  severe  illness,  an  illness  which 
threatens  to  be  fatal.  It  is  at  once  borne  in  upon  the  mind  of 
Zipporah,  perhaps  of  both  Zipporah  and  her  husband,  that 
God's  anger  has  been  incurred  by  neglect  of  a  duty  known  to 
both  of  them,  but  not  performed  by  either.  Eliezer,  Zipporah's 
infant  child,  born  not  many  days  before  they  set  out  on  their 
journey,  had  not  been  circumcised  on  the  eighth  day  after  his 
birth,  as  t!  e  law  of  God  commanded  (Gen.  xvii.  10-14),  perhaps 
because  Zipporah  objected  to  the  rite,  deeming  it  barbarous  and 
unnecessary,  perhaps  because  Moses  thought  it  would  be  incon- 
venient  to  have  the  rite  performed  during  a  journey.  Zipporah 
was  convinced  that  her  husband's  life  was  threatened  for  this 
reason,  and  she  therefore  took  a  sharp  stone  knife,  such  as  the 
Egyptians  used  for  making  incisions  with  a  view  to  embalming, 
and  with  it  performed  the  ceremony.  To  save  her  husband, 
she  could  consent  to  make  her  child  suffer  ;  but,  in  token  of  her 
repugnance  and  abhorrence  of  the  rite,  she  flung  the  bloody 
knife  and  fragment  of  flesh  at  her  husband's  feet,  with  the 
reproachful  words — "Surely  a  bloody  husband  thou  art  to  me — 
a  bloody  husband,  in  respect  of  the  circumcisions  "  (Exod.  iv. 
25,  26).  The  rite  completed,  in  however  faulty  a  spirit,  Moses 
at  once  began  to  recover,  God  "let  him  go,"  remitted  the 
death  penalty,  and  restored  him  to  his  former  health,  so  that  he 
was  able  to  resume  his  journey. 

But  the  question  must  have  arisen.  Should  he  persist  in  his 
original  design  of  being  accompanied  to  Egypt  by  his  wife  and 
children  ?  Zipporah  had  scarcely  shown  herself  a  "  helpmate." 
If  her  abhorrence  of  the  rite  had  caused  it  to  be  delayed,  she 
had  brought  her  husband  into  imminent  danger.  When  she 
relented,  it  was  with  an  ill  grace,  with  an  unseemly  act,  and 
with  words  that  showed  anger  against  her  husband,  if  not 
positive  dislike  of  him.  She  was  now  encumbered  with  a  child 
which  would   for  several  days  require  careful   tendance.      On 


THE   RETURN   TO   EGYPT.  83 

the  whole,  Moses  seems  to  have  thou^^ht  it  best  under  the  cir- 
cumstances to  Rive  up  his  original  plan,  and  contmue  his 
journey  alone,  sending  Zipporah  and  her  two  children  back  to 
the  care  and  protection  of  Jethro  (Exod.  xviii.  2).  He  probably 
found  at  the  caravanserai  some  person  whom  he  could  trust  to 
escort  her  to  her  brother's  tents  and  guard  her  a-ainst  the  perils 
of  the  way.  He  felt  that  he  would  be  more  independent,  and 
better  able  to  cope  with  the  difficulties  that  would  necessarily 
impede  his  enterprise  in  Egypt,  if  he  were  free  for  the  tune 
from  the  care  of  his  wife  and  children,  and  if,  knowmg  them  to 
be  in  safety,  he  could  devote  all  his  thought  and  attention  to 
the  public  work  which  had  been  assigned  him. 

The   lone  wanderer  now  took  his  solitary  way  through  the 
desolate  wadys  of  the  Sinaitic  highland,  by  what  exact  path  we 
cannot  sav,  but  probably  by  that  which  he  had  pursued,  in  the 
reverse  direction,  when  he  fled  from   Egypt  to   Midian.     He 
probably  knew  the  eastern  desert  well,  as  far  as  the  pastures  of 
Sinai,  but  with  the  western  desert  he  would  only  have  the  slight 
acquaintance  derived  from  one  solitary  journey  made   nearly 
forty  years  previously.     One  principal  hope  cheered  him  as  he 
toiled  along  the  weary  way,  scorched  during  the  daytime  by  the 
fierce  blaze  of  the  sun,  and  chilled  by  the  cold  dews  at  night. 
God  hath  revealed  it  to  him  that  his  brother,  Aaron,  was  about 
to  set  forth  to  meet  him  (Exod.  iv.  14)  ;  and  he  would  feel  each 
day  that  possibly,  ere  the  sun  declined  and  the  shadows  grew 
lon-:^,  the  happy  meeting  might  take  place.     Each  day  the  hope 
would  grow,  and  the  desire  for  its  accomplishment  increase ; 
till  at  last,  by  God's  blessing  and  careful  guidance  of  each,  there 
came  fruition-the  brothers  met  in  some  part  of  "  the  mount  of 
God  "  (Exod.  iv.  27),  that  is,  of  the  higher  hill  country,  probably 
between  Sinai  and  Serbal.    Ah  !  what  a  meeting  was  that  !    Two 
brothers  fondly  attached,  yet  parted  for  well  nigh  forty  years  ; 
at  the  time  of  separation  in  the  full  vigour  of  manhood,  now 
grown  old  and  grey,  verging  towards  eighty  years  of  age  yet 
hale  and  hearty,  with  eyes  undimmed,  with  strength  but  little 
diminished  ;  see  them  approaching,  drawing  nearer  and  nearer 
to  each  other  step  by  step,  questioning,  doubting,  suspecting, 
at  last  fully  recognizing  each  the  other,  and  quickening  their 
steps  till  they  meet  in  a  long  embrace.     "  Aaron  went  to  meet 
Moses,  and  he  met  him  in  the  mount  of  God,  and  kissed  him 
On  the  meeting  followed  mutual  confidences.     Aaron  would 


84  MOSES. 

communicate  to  Moses  all  that  we  understand  by  "home  news'' — 
particulars  concerning  Amram,  and  Jochebed,  and  Miriam,  and 
the  old  house,  and  the  new  ties,  if  any,  that  had  been  contracted, 
and  concerning  his  own  children,  Nadab  and  Abihu,  and  Eleazar, 
and  Ithamar,  and  his  wife,  Elisheba  or  Elisabeth,  and  their  nu- 
merous kindred,  sons  of  Izhar  and  Uzziel,  Amram's  brethren, 
and  others.  Moseswould  recount  his  experiences,  would  tell  Aaron 
of  his  marriage,  of  Reuel,  and  Jethro,  and  of  his  two  sons,  of  his 
peril  at  the  caravanserai,  and  his  escape  from  the  jaws  of  death, 
and  his  subsequent  journeyings  ;  and  further  he  would  relate,  as 
we  are  told  he  did  (Exod.  iv.  28),  "all  the  words  of  the  Lord  who 
had  sent  him" — the  mystery  of  the  burning  bush,  and  the  sum- 
mons that  had  come  to  him  out  of  the  bush,  and  the  revelation 
to  him  of  the  special  name  by  which  God  would  henceforth  be 
called,  and  the  mission  laid  upon  him,  and  his  repugnance,  and 
final  acceptance  of  it  on  the  condition  that  Aaron  should  be  his 
spokesman.  Moreover,  he  would  tell  his  brother  of  the  miracles 
which  he  had  been  empowered  to  work,  and  would  perhaps 
exhibit  them,  to  convince  Aaron  that  he  was  not  a  fanatic,  nor 
an  impostor.  And  then  the  two  would  proceed  together  and  in 
loving  converse  go  on  their  way  to  Egypt — par  iiobile  fratrujn 
if  ever  there  was  one — in  the  past  long  separated,  but  henceforth 
constant  fellow-workers,  mutual  aids  to  each  other,  with  two 
brief  exceptions,^  ever  of  one  heart  and  of  one  soul,  united,  as 
two  brothers  have  but  seldom  been,  for  the  long  space  of  nearly 
forty  years,  in  the  accomplishment  of  a  great  and  glorious  work, 
which  will  never  be  forgotten,  but  will  keep  their  memory  green, 
while  the  world  endures. 

^  Exod,  xxxii.  1-25     Num.  xii.  i-io. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE   LONG  STRUGGLE  WITH   PHARAOH. 

The  two  brothers  convene  the  elders  of  Israel— Their  mission  accepted— 
Their  first  appearance  before  Pharaoh  and  the  risk  they  ran— The 
demand  and  its  rejection— Pharaoh  increases  the  oppression— Moses 
appeal  to  God  and  God's  answer— Second  interview  between  the  two 
brothers  and  the  king— Contest  with  the  magicians  begins— The  First 
Plague  :  Pharaoh  unmoved  by  it— The  Second,  or  Plague  of  Frogs  : 
Pharaoh  relents,  but  recovers  himself— The  Third,  or  Plague  of  Lice  : 
the  magicians  give  way,  but  the  Pharaoh  is  unmoved— The  Fourth,  or 
Plague  of  Beetles  :  Pharaoh  gives  permission,  but  retracts  it— The 
Fifth,  or  Plague  of  Murrain— The  Sixth,  or  Plague  of  Boils— The 
Seventh,  or  Plague  of  Hail  :  Pharaoh  again  yields,  but  retracts— The 
Eighth,  or  Plague  of  Locusts— The  Ninth,  or  Plague  of  Darkness— 
The  Tenth,  or  Death  of  the  First-born— Pharaoh  drives  Israel  out. 

The  interchange  of  thought  between  the  two  brothers  during 
their  long  journey  from  "  the  mount  of  God  ''  to  Egypt  led  to  a 
conviction,  in  which  both  shared,  that,  before  any  application 
could  be  made,  with  reasonable  prospect  of  success,  to  Pharaoh, 
it  was  necessary  that  their  mission  should  be  fully  acknowledged 
and  accepted  by  the  people  of  Israel.  Of  what  avail  would  it 
be  to  contend  with  that  mighty  prince,  and  gradually  subdue  his 
spirit,  and  overcome  the  proud  resistance  which  he  was  sure  to 
offer  'to  their  message,  if  at  the  last,  when  the  time  came  for 
action,  the  people  should  repudiate  their  leadership,  and  decline 
to  move  at  their  command  ?  Practically,  therefore,  the  first 
step  to  be  taken  was  to  secure  the  adhesion  of  the  mass  of  the 
Israelites.  For  this  purpose  application  was  made,  as  God  had 
Himself  suggested  (Exod.  iii.  16),  to  "  the  elders  of  the  people  "— 


86  MOSES. 

that  is,  to  those  native  officials  who  in  different  locahties,  exer- 
cised, and  were  allowed  to  exercise,  a  certain  authority  over  the 
rest  of  their  countrymen.  In  Oriental  countries,  an  alien  race 
dwelling  among  the  ruling  nation,  is  almost  always  permitted  to 
have  its  chiefs  or  head  men,  who  control  it,  act  on  its  behalf,  and 
are  the  means  of  communication  between  it  and  the  government. 
Among  the  Israelites  these  persons  would  probably  be  "the  chiefs 
of  the  fathers" — i.e.  the  hereditary  heads  of  families.  Moses 
and  Aaron,  though  destitute  of  any  legal  right  to  convene  a 
meeting  of  such  persons,  regarded  it  as  morally  within  their 
competence  to  do  so,  and  issued  a  summons,  which  was  obeyed, 
to  "  all  the  elders  of  the  children  of  Israel "  (Exod.  iv.  29). 

It  must  have  been  a  grand  gathering.  From  Zoan,  and  its 
suburb,  Pa-Ramesses,  from  Pa-Tum  or  Pithom,  from  On  or 
Heliopolis,  from  Pi-Bast  or  Bubastis,  from  Memphis,  and  per- 
haps from  towns  still  further  distant,  from  all  the  many  villages 
in  the  "  field  of  Zoan  "  and  the  "  land  of  Goshen,"'  came  trooping 
the  Hebrew  grey-beards,  drawn  together  by  an  unwonted  sum- 
mons, to  hear  they  knew  not  what,  from  the  mouths  of  two  men 
unknown  to  most  of  them.  The  place  of  meeting  was,  no  doubt, 
in  some  purely  Hebrew  district,  some  part  of  Goshen,  probably 
towards  the  eastern  border,  where  the  assembly  would  be  the 
least  likely  to  draw  attention.  When  all  were  come  together, 
the  two  brothers  appeared  before  them,  and  delivered  the  mes- 
sage which  God  had  sent  them  by  Moses.  The  message  was 
as  follows  :  "  The  Lord  God  of  your  fathers  {jfehovah-Elohivi)^ 
the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,  appeared  unto  me, 
saying,  I  have  surely  visited  you,  and  seen  that  which  is  done  to 
you  in  Egypt  ;  and  I  have  said,  I  will  bring  you  up  out  of  the 
affliction  of  Egypt  unto  the  land  of  the  Canaanites,  and  the 
Hittites,  and  the  Amorites,  and  the  Perizzites,  and  the  Hivites, 
and  the  Jebusites,  unto  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey  : 
and  they  shall  hearken  unto  thy  voice,  and  thou  shalt  come,  thou 
and  the  elders  of  Israel.,  unto  the  king  of  Egypt,  and  ye  shall 
say  unto  him,  the  Lord  of  the  Hebrews  [Jeliovah  Elohiin)  hath 
met  with  us  ;  and  now  let  us  go,  we  beseech  thee,  three  days' 
journey  into  the  wilderness,  that  we  may  sacrifice  to  the  Lord 
our  God.  And  I  am  sure  that  the  king  of  Egypt  will  not  let  you 
go,  no,  not  by  a  mighty  hand.  And  1  will  stretch  out  my  hand, 
and  smite  Egypt  with  all  my  wonders,  which  I  will  do  in  the 
midst  thereof :  and  after  that  he  will  let  you  go.     And  I  will 


THE   LONG   STRUGGLE  WITH   PHARAOH.  87 

give  this  people  favour  in  the  sij^^ht  of  the  Egyptians  ;  and  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  that,  when  ye  go,  ye  shall  not  go  empty  ;  but 
every  woman  shall  borrow  (or,  ask)  of  her  neighbour,  and  of  her 
that  sojourneth  in  her  house,  jewels  of  silver,  and  jewels  of  gold, 
and  raiment  ;  and  ye  shall  put  them  upon  your  sons,  and  upon 
your  daughters  ;  and  ye  shall  spoil  the  Egyptians  "  (Exod.  iii. 
16-22).  The  message  delivered,  there  was  doubtless  at  first 
hesitation,  doubt,  incredulity.  The  promise  of  God  to  Abraham 
was  so  old  a  matter  ;  the  land  of  Canaan  had  so  slipped  from 
their  memories  ;  it  was  so  long  since  God  had  appeared  to  any 
among  them  ;  their  past  history  had  so  faded  from  their  minds, 
that  they  could  not  possibly  accept  at  once,  and  be  prepared  to 
act  upon,  the  strange  news  brought  them.  If  they  did  not  say 
to  Moses,  in  so  many  words,  "The  Lord  hath  not  appeared  unto 
thee"  (Exod.  iv.  i),  at  any  rate  they  made  it  sufficiently  clear 
that  their  hearts  were  not  impressed,  their  assent  was  not 
gained  :  something  more  was  needed  to  move  them.  Then  Moses 
fell  back  upon  his  credentials,  and  produced  them.  Recognizing 
the  elders'  hesitation  as  just,  reasonable,  rightful — for  as  yet 
they  had  no  proof  that  he  was  not  an  impostor,  they  had  no  evi- 
dence that  he  was  not  a  fanatic — he  proceeded  to  bring  forth  and 
exhibit  before  them  the  proofs  with  which  God  had  furnished 
him,  that  he  was  a  man  empowered  by  God  to  declare  His  will 
to  the  nation,  therefore  no  impostor,  no  fanatic,  but  a  divinely- 
commissioned  messenger,  who  spoke  the  words  of  soberness 
and  truth.  He  cast  his  rod  on  the  ground,  and  it  became,  mani- 
festly and  palpably,  a  serpent  :  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  took 
the  serpent  by  the  tail,  and  it  was  once  more  a  rod.  He  put  his 
hand,  which  was  free  from  all  blemish,  into  the  bosom  of  his 
garment,  and  drew  it  forth,  and  showed  it  to  them  all  white  and 
leprous  ;  he  then  placed  it  within  his  vest  a  second  time,  and 
drew  it  forth  restored  to  its  former  condition.  He  took  in  a 
vessel  of  the  water  of  the  river,  and  poured  it  out  upon  the  dry 
land,  and  the  liquid  was  no  longer  water,  but  blood,  which  lay 
in  a  red  pool  upon  the  ground  (Exod.  iv.  30,  compared  with 
vers.  2-9).  The  elders  saw  the  three  signs,  and  were  convinced 
of  their  reality,  and  expressed  themselves  satisfied  ;  God,  they 
allowed,  had  indeed  "visited  His  people  '  (ver.  31):  and  they 
reported  all  that  they  had  seen  and  heard  to  the  people  in  their 
several  localities  ;  and  "the  people  believed  "—the  whole  nation 
i_ccepted  the  mission  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  acknowledged  them 


88  MOSES. 

as  their  leaders,  and  empowered  them  to  act  in  their  name. 
Henceforth,  whatever  dissatisfaction,  whatever  impatience, 
whatever  jealousy  of  the  two  brothers,  showed  itself  in  any 
quarter,  the  nation  as  a  whole  never  withdrew  its  confidence 
from  them,  never  rejected  their  leadership,  or  lowered  them  from 
their  pre-eminent  position.  It  was  felt  that  God  had  taken  the 
matter  into  His  own  hands,  and  as  a  successful  issue  could  only 
be  counted  on  through  His  help,  a  faithful  adherence  to  the 
leaders  of  His  choice  was  a  matter  of  absolute  necessity. 

It  is  uncertain  how  much  time  was  consumed  in  these  pro- 
ceedings ;  but  we  must  always  be  upon  our  guard  against 
supposing  that  each  event  of  the  sacred  narrative  followed  im- 
mediately upon  the  event  directly  preceding  it  in  the  narration. 
Considerable  intervals  of  time  may  have  separated  the  death  of 
Ramesses  II.  from  the  appearance  of  God  to  Moses  in  the  bush, 
that  appearance  from  the  application  made  by  Moses  to  Jethro, 
Jethro's  permission  to  Moses  to  depart  and  Moses'  actual  de- 
parture, Moses'  illness  and  the  continuance  of  his  journey,  the 
arrival  of  Moses  and  Aaron  in  Egypt  and  the  convening  of  the 
elders,  the  convening  of  the  elders  and  the  adoption  of  Moses 
and  Aaron  for  their  leaders  by  the  nation,  and  between  the  sig- 
nifying of  this  adoption  by  the  elders  to  the  two  brothers  and 
their  next  recorded  step,  their  appearance  before  Pharaoh.  The 
extreme  brevity  of  the  sacred  narrative  is  such  as  naturally  to 
deceive  us,  unless  we  continually  bear  in  mind  how  necessary 
compression  was  to  a  writer  in  the  position  of  Moses,  and  how 
little  it  is  in  his  manner  to  give  prominence  to  the  chronological 
element. 

Moses  and  Aaron  were  now  at  length  empowered  to  act  on 
behalf  of  the  people.  Their  action,  however,  was  not  rash  or 
precipitate.  They  bided  their  time.  "  Afterward^''  we  are  told, 
Moses  and  Aaron  "  went  in,"  and  spake  to  Pharaoh.  They  had 
undertaken  a  momentous  task.  They  had  to  present  themselves 
before  a  king,  who,  by  the  long-established  usage  of  the 
country,  was  looked  upon  as  "a  god  upon  earth" — neter  nefer, 
"  the  good  god,"  and  neter  aa,  "  the  great  god  " — "  son  of  the 
Sun,"  "  the  living  Horus,"  and  who  inherited  from  his  father  the 
idea  that  he  was  actually  on  a  par  with  the  greatest  of  the 
recognized  divinities,  with  Ra  and  Tum,  with  Phthah  and 
Ammon  and  Horus,  "  The  king  in  that  first  monarchy,"  as 
Dean  Stanley  observes,  "  was  the  visible  god  upon  earth.     The 


THE   LONG   STRUGGLE  WITH   PHARAOH.  89 

only  thing  like  it  that  has  been  since  seen  is  the  deification  of  the 
Roman  emperors.  No  pure  monotheism  would  for  a  moment 
have  been  compatible  with  such  an  intense  exaltation."  ' 
Menephthah,  the  successor  of  Harnesses  II.,  took  as  his  pecu- 
liar titles,  "beloved  of  Ammon,"  "soul  of  the  Sun,''  and  "he 
who  trusts  in  Truth."  He  is  represented  as  sitting  on  "the 
throne  of  Horus,  where  he  had  been  placed  to  give  life  to 
mankind,  where  he  had  gone  as  king  to  watch  over  mortals."  = 
He  is  called  "  the  living,"  "  the  Giver  of  Life,"  "  the  gracious 
Lord,"  "  the  good  God,"  "  the  son  of  the  Sun,"  "  the  Horus  re- 
joicing in  truth."  ^  Soon  after  his  accession  to  the  throne,  Egypt 
had  been  invaded  by  a  powerful  host  of  Libyans  and  their  allies, 
among  whom  are  thought  to  have  been  included  Greeks  and 
Italians  ;  he  had  abstained  from  meeting  them  in  person,  but 
his  generals  had  met  and  defeated  them  with  great  slaughter  ; 
Egypt  had  been  placed  in  safety,  and  Menephthah,  counting  as 
his  own  all  the  successes  gained  by  his  generals,  was  full  of  vain- 
glory and  arrogance.  He  was,  in  reality,  a  weak  prince,  capri- 
cious, changeful,  timid  ;  but  his  vanity  was  excessive,  and  his 
self-assertion  equal  to  that  of  any  former  monarch.  It  was  a 
bold  thing  to  confront  such  a  monarch  in  his  palace,  on  his 
throne,  among  his  courtiers,  and  to  urge  on  him  an  unpalatable 
request.  Moses  and  Aaron,  when  they  appeared  before  him, 
took  their  lives  in  their  hands.  He  was  an  irresponsible  despot ; 
and,  though  it  was  a  part  of  the  duty  of  a  Pharaoh  to  give 
audience  to  all  who  approached  him  in  the  authorized  way,  and  to 
allow  them  to  prefer  their  petitions,  yet  there  was  no  security 
against  an  outbreak  of  irrepressible  anger,  if  the  petition  was 
considered  an  improper  one,  and,  during  the  outbreak,  a  sign 
might  be  made,  or  a  word  spoken,  dooming  the  petitioners  to 
death. 

The  brothers,  however,  were  not  daunted.  Both  were  vener- 
able figures.  Moses,  at  eighty  years  of  age,  retained  much  of 
the  comeliness  of  his  youth.  The  fire  of  his  eyes  was  undimmed 
(Deut.  xxxiv.  7)  to  a  much  later  date.  He  was  tall  and  dignified, 
with  long  streaming  hair,  of  a  reddish  hue,  tinged  with  grey, 
and  with  a  long  shaggy  beard.'*  Aaron,  at  eighty-three,  can 
scarcely  have  presented  a  less  venerable  appearance.     He  had 

»  Stanley,  "Sinai  and  Palestine,"  Introduction,  p.  xxxvi. 

«  "  Records  of  the  Past,"  vol.  iv.  p.  41,  §  10.  3  Ibid.  pp.  42-48. 

♦  Artapanus  ap.  Euseb.  "  Praep.  Ev."  ix.  27  ;   Diod.  Sic.  xxxiv.  F"r.  i. 


go  MOSES. 

the  ready  address  of  a  practised  speaker  (Exod.  iv.  14),  and 
thou^^h  probably  a  less  striking  figure  than  his  brother,  yet  lent 
additional  importance  to  the  deputation.  It  was  understood 
that  the  two  chiefs  were  about  to  speak  on  behalf  of  their  people. 
The  usual  formalities  of  the  presentation  having  been  completed, 
Aaron,  the  divinely  appointed  spokesman,  stood  forth  and 
delivered  the  message  of  Jehovah  to  the  king.  We  must  not  sup- 
pose that  his  words  are  fully  recorded.  Rather,  the  gist  of  them 
is  given.  It  was  impressed  on  the  Pharaoh,  that  Jehovah,  the 
God  of  Israel,  had  appeared  to  those  who  addressed  him,  and 
had  charged  them  with  the  following  message  to  him  :  "  Let 
My  people  go  that  they  may  hold  a  feast  unto  Me  in  the  wilder- 
ness "  (Exod.  V.  i).  ]\Iore  definitely  the  demand  was,  "  Let  us 
go,  we  pray  thee,  a  three  days'  jour 7tey  into  the  desert,  and  sac- 
rifice unto  the  Lord  our  God  "  (ver.  3). 

The  Egyptians  could  readily  appreciate  the  idea  of  a  great 
sacrifice,  and  of  a  great  national  gathering  to  celebrate  it,  since 
such  gatherings  were  not  uncommon  among  themselves. 
Pharaoh  could  not  therefore  affect  surprise  at  such  a  request. 
Nor  could  he  well  object  to  the  "  three  days' journey  into  the 
wilderness,"  since  he  would  understand  the  desire  of  a  people 
to  hold  their  national  festival  by  themselves,  at  a  distance  from 
those  who  would  at  best  be  curious  lookers-on,  and  might  be 
deriders  of  their  ceremonies.  But  he  meets  and  refuses  the 
request  on  two  grounds — (i)  The  God,  whose  commands  are 
reported  to  him,  is  not  his  God,  has  no  authority  over  him^  is,  in 
fact,  wholly  unknown  to  him  (Exod.  v.  2)  ;  and  (2)  He  needs  the 
Israelites'  labours,  and  will  not  have  them  interrupted  (ver.  4). 
It  will  be  observed,  that  he  does  not  dispute  Moses'  facts,  or 
the  reasonableness  of  the  claim  that  he  had  made  ;  he  simply 
goes  upon  his  own  rights — Jehovah  is  nothing  to  him  ;  the 
Israelites  are  his  bondsmen  ;  Jehovah's  words  are  therefore  to 
him  as  nothing  ;  and  he  will  do  with  the  Israelites  as  he  pleases 
— he  will  exact  from  them  the  utmost  labour  that  is  possible. 
Even  Moses  and  Aaron  ought  to  be  at  work  at  the  kilns  or  in 
the  brickfields — he  dismisses  them  therefore  with  the  short, 
sharp  phrase — "  Get  you  unto  your  burdens." 

Their  failure  on  this  first  interview  cannot  have  surprised  the 
brothers.  God  had  warned  Moses  that  Pharaoh  would  not  let 
the  people  go,  until  Egypt  had  been  smitten  with  a  long  series 
of  chastisements,   culminating  in  the  death  of  the    Pharaoh's 


THE   LONG   STRUGGLE  WITH   PHARAOH.  9! 

own  first-born  (Exod.  iii.  19,  20;  iv.  21-23).  The  brothers 
therefore  cannot  have  hoped  anything  from  their  first  applica- 
tion ;  and  they  even  may  have  felt  that  they  had  reason  to  con- 
gratulate themselves  on  having  come  off  from  the  interview  so 
well  as  they  had,  without  being  struck,  or  arrested  as  stirrers-up 
of  discontent,  or  actually  set  to  the  hard  taskwork  under  which 
their  fellow-countrymen  were  suffering.  Perhaps,  however, 
they  looked  for  some  immediate  interposition  of  God,  in  vindi- 
cation of  his  own  honour,  some  commencement  of  the 
"smiting"  by  which  they  knew  that  the  deliverance  of  the 
people  was  to  be  effected.  But  God  showed  no  sign.  All 
things  remained  as  they  had  been  from  the  beginning.  The 
Pharaoh's  defiance  of  Jehovah  brought  upon  him  no  immediate 
punishment.  Egypt  was  not  smitten.  The  brothers  under 
these  circumstances  may  have  experienced  some  sense  of  disap- 
pointment ;  however,  they  made  no  complaint — they  were  ready 
to  wait  patiently  until  God  should  give  them  some  new  direction 
how  to  proceed. 

But  now  a  worse  disappointment  came  upon  them.  The 
Pharaoh,  angered  at  their  interposition,  determined  to  punish  it 
by  heaping  fresh  sufferings  upon  those  on  whose  behalf  the 
brothers  had  interceded.  By  his  own  initiative,  apparently 
(Exod.  V.  6-9),  the  order  went  forth,  that  no  straw  should  hence- 
forth be  given  to  the  Hebrew  brickmakers,  but  that  they  should 
themselves  find  the  straw  needed  for  binding  the  bricks 
together.  Nevertheless,  the  tale  of  bricks  was  not  to  be 
diminished  ;  the  same  number  was  to  be  exacted  of  each  gang 
of  labourers,  as  when  the  straw  was  furnished  to  them.  This 
was  a  heavy  aggravation  of  the  previously  over-severe  burdens, 
and  indeed  was  imposing  a  burden  to  which  human  strength 
was  unequal.  Labour  as  hard  as  they  might,  the  brickmakers 
could  not  produce  the  full  tale  of  bricks  required  of  them  ;  and 
the  result  was,  that  their  head  men  were  bastinadoed  for  giving 
in  a  short  quantity  (Exod.  v.  14).  Then,  not  unnaturally, 
Moses  and  Aaron  were  assailed  with  bitter  reproaches  by  the 
sufferers — What  good  had  their  interference  done.'*  Nay,  what 
harm  had  it  not  done  .''  The  whole  nation  had  been  made  to 
stink  in  the  nostrils  of  Pharaoh — his  anger  had  been  aroused, 
his  vengeance  provoked.  The  oppression  of  the  entire  people 
had  been  made  very  much  severer  than  before,  and  the  head 
men  were  in  actual  peril  of  their  lives,  for  men  died  under  the 


92  MOSES. 

bastinado.  "The  Lord  judge  you,"  exclaimed  the  unhappy 
officers,  "  whether  it  is  not  by  your  fault  that  all  this  has  come 
upon  us  !  "  The  reproaches  of  one's  friends,  even  when  un- 
deserved, are  very  hard  to  bear.  Moses  and  Aaron  were  deeply 
stung  by  the  words  addressed  to  them.  But  they  "  held  their 
tongue,"  they  "  refrained,  yea,  even  from  good  words," — they 
"  spake  nothing,"  though  it  may  have  been  "  pain  and  grief  to 
them  ;  "  and  Moses  at  any  rate  took  his  trouble  to  God — bowed 
down  before  the  Throne  of  Grace,  and  opened  his  heart  to  the 
Almighty.  "  Lord,"  he  said,  "Jehovah,  Eternal  One,  wherefore 
hast  Thou  so  evil  entreated  this  people  ?  Why  is  it  that  Thou 
hast  sent  me  ?  For  since  I  came  to  Pharaoh  to  speak  in  Thy 
name,  he  hath  done  evil  to  this  people  ;  neither  hast  Thou  de- 
livered Thy  people  at  all "  (Exod.  v.  22,  23). 

It  must  indeed  have  been  a  bitter  moment.  Having  pro- 
claimed himself  a  deliverer,  having  persuaded  his  nation  to 
trust  in  him,  having  led  them  to  expect  that  by  the  exercise  of 
his  miraculous  powers  he  would  bow  the  Pharaoh  to  his  will, 
and  obtain  for  them  some  alleviation  of  their  "  affliction,"  he 
now  stood  before  his  nation  convicted,  so  far,  of  absolute  failure  : 
not  only  no  helper,  but  an  injurer,  one  who  by  his  officious  and 
clumsy  interference  had  done  them  infinite  harm.  They  had 
been  in  the  "  lowest  deep  "  of  calamity  previously,  but  he  had 
plunged  them  into  a  "  lower  deep."  They  had  been  scourged 
with  whips  ;  he  had  brought  upon  them  a  scourging  with  scor- 
pions. Was  it  by  his  own  fault  ?  Had  he  misunderstood  his 
commission?  Or  had  he  failed  to  carry  it  out  in  the  proper 
way?  Why  had  God  "forgotten  to  be  gracious"?  Moses,  re- 
proaching himself,  goes  near  to  reproaching  God — "Why  hast 
Thou  so  evilentreated  this  people?  Why  is  it  Thou  hast  sent  me?" 
He  cannot  gauge  the  depths  of  the  Divine  counsels.  He  cannot 
understand  God's  patience  with  the  wicked,  God's  reluctance  to 
stretch  forth  his  arm,  until  their  iniquity  is  full.  He  is  ignorant, 
probably,  of  the  sanctifying  power  of  suffering,  and  does  not 
know  that  God  chastens  in  love,  to  purge  and  strengthen  and 
purify  those  whom  He  chastens.  God's  ways  are  "  far  above  out 
of  sight  ;  "  and  so  he  murmurs,  and  complains,  and  expostulates 
— not,  however,  rudely  or  irreverently,  but  so  as  to  call  forth  the 
Divine  compassion,  and  to  draw  from  God  a  fresh  series  ot 
gracious  promises,  and  an  indication  that  their  performance  is 
just  about  to  commence  (Exod.  vi.  13). 


THE  LONG  STRUGGLE  WITH  PHARAOH.         93 

The  result  is,  that  the  two  brothers  are  ordered  to  appear 
before  Pharaoh  a  second  time,  and  to  exhibit  before  him  their 
miracidous  powers,  that  it  may  be  seen  whether  these  will  be 
sulVicient  to  bend  his  will,  or  whether  the  series  of  Divine  visita- 
tions must  commence.  Pharaoh  has  evidently  heard  of  the 
strange  powers  which  the  brothers  possess,  and  desires  to  see  a 
specimen  of  them  (comp.  Luke  xxiii.  8)  ;  but  he  does  not  agree 
to  make  them  a  test,  or  promise  to  yield  if  they  are  satisfactory. 
"Show  a  miracle  for  you,"  he  says  (Exod.  vii.  9 j  ;  and  the 
brothers,  divinely  instructed  beforehand,  comply.  Aaron  casts 
the  rod  of  Moses,  which  he  had  brought  from  Midian,  upon  the 
ground,  and  it  becomes  a  serpent — it  lives  and  moves,  and 
not  only  appears  to  be,  but  is,  an  actual  living  reptile.  The 
Pharaoh  is  impressed  to  a  certain  extent  ;  but,  before  de- 
termining what  weight  he  will  attach  to  this  credential,  he  will 
see  what  his  own  magicians  can  do.  So  he  "calls  the  wise  men, 
and  the  sorcerers,  and  the  magicians  of  Egypt "  to  his  presence, 
and  consults  them  with  respect  to  the  phenomenon.  The 
magicians  had,  it  would  seem,  known  what  they  were  about  to 
witness,  and  had  prepared  themselves  accordingly.  Like  other 
Egyptian  officials,  they  entered  the  royal  presence  with  what 
seemed  to  be  rods  in  their  hands,  and  these  apparent  rods,  when 
cast  upon  the  ground,  became  serpents.  The  Arabic  tradition, 
preserved  to  us  in  the  Koran,  is  to  the  effect,  that  the  rods  were 
pieces  of  rope,  to  which  the  magicians  contrived  to  impart 
motion  by  artificial  means,  so  that  they  seemed  to  be  alive,  and 
to  wriggle  like  snakes,  one  twisting  over  another.  But  most 
modern  critics  are  of  opinion  that  the  magicians  bore  in  their 
hands  real  snakes,  rendered  torpid  and  stiff,  so  as  to  look  like 
rods,  which,  on  being  thrown  to  the  ground  were  disenchanted, 
and  resumed  their  natural  character.  Another  explanation  is, 
that  they  were  mere  clever  jugglers,  adepts  in  sleight-of-hand, 
and  that  the  snakes  were  substituted  for  the  rods,  which  were 
skilfully  hidden  away.  Jugglery  was  certainly  an  art  well  known 
in  Egypt  in  ancient,  as  it  is  in  modern,  times  ;  and  if  the  skill 
of  the  jugglers  was  even  half  as  great  as  that  of  their  Indian 
fellow^craftsmen,  there  would  be  nothing  at  all  surprising  in 
their  cheating  the  eyes  of  the  spectators  in  the  way  supposed. 
In  any  cas;.',  a  seeming  miracle,  parallel  to  that  of  Aaron,  was 
wrought;  the  magicians  were  triumphant  ;  the  Pharaoh  began 
to  boast,  and  to  revile  Moses  (Josephus) ;  but  the  triumph  was 


94  MOSES. 

short-lived.  Aaron's  serpent  devoured  in  succession  all  the 
snakes  of  the  ma.G^icians,  and  was  then  once  more  a  rod,  as  at 
first  (Exod.  vii.  12). 

Had  the  Pharaoh  been  a  real  seeker  after  truth,  had  he 
possessed  a  mind  open  to  conviction,  and  entertained  an  honest 
desire  to  do  what  was  right,  his  resistance  to  the  message  sent 
him  would  have  ceased  thus  early.  The  magic  of  Egypt  had 
been  overcome  and  put  to  shame  by  the  Divine  power  wielded 
by  the  two  Hebrews.  There  could  be  no  question  with  which 
side  the  victory  had  rested.  But  Pharaoh  would  not  see, 
would  not  acknowledge  the  fact.  He  hardened  his  heart,'  shut 
his  eyes  against  the  light,  refused  to  grant  the  permission  sought 
of  him,  declined  to  let  the  people  go,  and  by  this  obduracy,  he 
provoked,  and  brought  down  upon  his  people  the  calamity  of 

The  First  Plague. 

It  was  morning.  The  opal  tints  of  early  dawn  were  fading  in 
the  eastern  sky,  and  long  streaks  of  rosy  light  were  stretching 
themselves  like  fingers  from  the  horizon  towards  the  zenith,  when 
Pharaoh,  amid  a  proud  array  of  chiefs,  and  guards,  and  courtiers, 
"  went  forth  unto  the  water"  (Exod.  vii.  15)  ;  proceeded  from  his 
lordly  palace — probably  that  erected  by  the  Great  Ramesses  at 
Pa-Ramesses,  a  suburb  of  Tanis — to  the  brink  of  the  mysterious 
and  holy  stream,  which  Egypt  worshipped  as  one  of  the  greatest 
of  her  gods,  either  to  perform  a  customary  daily  act  of  adora- 
tion, or  perhaps  to  honour  with  his  presence  some  special 
annual  festival.  Possibly  it  was  his  duty  to  recite  the  mystic 
hymn,  found  in  a  manuscript  of  the  time,  where  Hapi,  "  the 
hidden,"  was  acknowledged  as  the  giver  of  all  good  things,  the 
source  of  countless  blessings.  "  Hail  to  thee,  O  Nile,"  ran  the 
words  of  the  sacred  song,^  "  that  showest  thyself  in  this  land, 
coming  in  peace,  giving  life  to  Egypt.  O  concealed  One,  thou 
>adest  the  night  onward  to  the  day,  a  leading  that  rejoices  the 
^leart !  Thou  overflowest  the  gardens  created  by  Ra  ;  thou  givest 
life  to  all  animals  ;  thou  waterest  the  land  without  ceasing,  from 
the  path  of  heaven  descending — Lover  of  good,   bestower    of 

*The  rendering  of  the  Authorised  Version,  "He  (Jehovah)  hardened 
Pharaoh's  heart  "  (Exod.  vii.  13)  is  wrong.  All  that  is  said  is,  that  his 
heart  was  hardened.  If  we  ask,  who  hardened  it,  the  answer  must  be, 
himself. 

*  "  Records  of  the  Past,"  vol.  iv.  p.  107.  , 


THE   LONG  STKUGGLE  Wl'l  H    PHARAOH.  95 

corn,  giving  life  to  every  homestead  !  "  The  rites  were  about  to 
be  begun,  the  priests  were  ready,  the  courtiers  were  all  atten- 
tion, when  suddenly  the  monarch  found  himself  confronted  by 
the  pertinacious  Hebrews,  whose  inconvenient  request  he  had 
distinctly  negatived  the  day  before,  and  was  compelled  to  turn  his 
attention  to  them.  The  brothers  were  waiting  by  the  river's 
brink  for  his  arrival,  expecting  it,  and  determined  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  it.  Moses  stood  with  the  miraculous  rod  in  his  hand, 
and  Aaron  stood  by  his  side.  As  the  king  drew  near,  Moses 
took  the  word  and  said  :  "Jehovah  sent  me  to  thee,  saying.  Let 
My  people  go,  that  they  may  serve  Me  in  the  wilderness  :  and 
behold,  hitherto  thou  hast  not  hearkened.  Now  thus  saith  the 
Lord,  In  this  thou  shalt  know  that  I  am  Jehovah  :  behold,  I 
will  smite  with  the  rod  that  is  in  mine  hand  upon  the  waters  that 
are  in  the  river,  and  they  shall  be  turned  to  blood  :  and  the  fish 
that  are  in  the  river  shall  die,  and  the  river  shall  stink  ;  and  the 
Egyptians  shall  loath  to  drink  of  the  water  of  the  river"  (Exod. 
vii,  16,  17).  Then,  as  Pharaoh  and  his  courtiers  stood  to  gaze, 
anonied  and  dumbfoundered  at  the  threat,  Aaron  took  the  rod 
from  Moses'  hand,  and  stretched  it  forth  over  the  fast-flowing 
river,  and  smote  the  water  with  it,  and  at  once  the  life-giving 
and  limpid  stream  was  changed  from  its  previous  nature — the 
blessed  fertilizing  Nile,  hitherto  the  perennial  source  of  all 
Egypt's  changeless  prosperity,  regarded  as  giving  the  sweetest 
water  in  the  world,  and  fabled  to  have  once  for  eleven  consecu- 
tive days  flowed  with  honey,  on  a  sudden  fioiued  ivith  blood — 
not  only  was  blood-red,  but  carried  between  its  banks,  in  a  slow 
sluggish  current,  a  mass  of  liquid,  which  had  all  the  qualities  of 
blood,  and  was  revolting,  fearful,  provocative  of  actual  loathing. 
Nor  was  this  the  whole.  All  the  water  in  the  side-streams,  and 
in  the  canals,  and  in  the  ponds  and  the  reservoirs,  and  in  houses, 
stored  away  in  "  vessels  of  wood  and  vessels  of  stone,"  as  is 
customary  even  at  the  present  day,  in  order  that  the  sediment  of 
Nile  mud  may  settle  down,  suffered  at  the  same  time  the  same 
conversion,  and  was  rendered  a  horror  to  look  upon.  Soon 
"the  river  stank"  (ver.  21),  and  the  fish  that  were  in  the  river  died  ; 
the  odour  of  putrefaction  filled  the  air  ;  everywhere  was  suffer- 
ing, misery,  disgust,  and  an  awful  fear.  For  seven  days  the 
plague  continued  (ver.  25).  The  red  stream  flowed  ceaselessly 
on.  The  only  alleviation  which  the  mercy  of  God  allowed  to 
the  people  was  from  the  moisture  already  in  the  soil  before  the 


96  MOSES. 

change  fell  on  the  river.  This  remained  water ;  and  the 
Egyptians  M^ere  able  to  obtain  by  digging  trenches  and  pits,  a 
scanty  supply  of  a  brackish  liquid,  on  which  life  was  sustained 
while  the  plague  lasted. 

A  more  striking  visitation,  one  more  apt  to  impress  the 
Egyptians,  can  scarcely  be  imagined.  "  It  is  not  an  ordinary 
river  that  is  turned  into  blood,  but  the  sacred,  beneficent,  salu- 
tary Nile,  the  very  life  of  the  state  and  of  the  people."  *  It  is  a 
divinity  that  is  smitten,  that  is  disgraced,  that  is  turned  to  an 
object  of  horror.  And  the  divinity  that  suffers  this  debasement 
further  involves  in  its  humiliation  other  divinities.  The  fish  of 
the  Nile  were,  in  several  instances,  sacred.  The  lepidotus,  the 
oxyrinchus,  the  eel,  the  carp  of  Esneh,  w^ere  Nilotic  fish,  and 
had,  all  of  them,  a  sacred  character.  The  First  Plague  involved 
these  fish  in  a  common  destruction.  It  smote  "the  gods  of 
Egypt "  with  a  blow  that  was,  within  its  sphere,  unsparing.  All 
the  gods  of  the  waters  were  smitten  in  combination  with  the 
great  Water-God,  Hapi  ;  and  the  animal-worship,  which  was  so 
important  an  element  in  the  Egyptian  religion,  received  in  this 
way  a  severe  blow,  and  was  for  the  time  greatly  discredited. 

And  the  physical  suffering  implied  in  the  visitation  was  great, 
more  than  can  be  by  moderns  and  Englishmen  readily  appre- 
ciated. It  was  not  merely  that  for  seven  days  they  suftered 
largely  from  the  pangs  of  thirst,  having  no  w^ater,  or  only  a 
scant  allow^ance  of  brackish  water,  to  drink  ;  but  they  lost  the 
fish  which  formed  their  most  ordinary  and  favourite  food  ;  they 
lost  the  copious  supply  of  the  grateful  fluid  for  the  frequent 
ablutions  to  which  they  were  accustomed  ;  they  could  not  wash 
their  clothes,  or  rinse  out  their  utensils,  or  scour  their  houses, 
or  practise  any  of  their  usual  methods  of  securing  constant 
purity  and  cleanliness.  There  was  never  a  people  so  devoted 
to  cleanliness  as  the  Egyptians — "  the  cleanliest  of  all  the 
ancient  nations,"  as  they  have  been  called,  "  clothed  in  white 
linen,  anticipating,  in  their  fastidious  delicacy  and  ceremonial 
purity,  the  habits  of  modern  and  Northern  Europe."  ^  The 
priests  especially  must  have  grieved  to  miss  their  double  daily 
and  double  nightly  bath  of  cold  water,^  at  once  so  delightful 
to  their  feelings  and  so  necessary  to  fit  them  ceremonially 
for  the    performance    of   their  sacred  functions.      The  higher 

*  Stanley,  "Lectures  on  tbe  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  ii8. 

•  Ibid,  vol.  i.  p.  n8.  3  Herodotus,  ii.  37. 


THE   LONG   STRUGGLE  WITH    PHARAOir.  97 

orders  must  have  suffered  almost  equally  from  the  privation  ; 
even  the  lower  must  have  felt  it,  for  in  Egypt  there  was  no 
class  of  "unwashed."  And  to  all  this  negative  discomfort  was 
added  the  digust  to  the  eye  from  the  sight  of  the  moving  mass 
of  gore,  and  the  disgust  to  the  sense  of  smell  from  the  putridity 
which  filled  the  air. 

But,  notwithstanding  all,  the  marvel,  the  horror,  the  suffering, 
the  contempt  thrown  on  Egypt's  gods,  the  Pharaoh  continued 
obdurate  ;  "  neither  did  he  lay  even  this  [sign]  to  heart "  (Exod. 
vii.  23).  He  consulted  his  magicians  a  second  time  ;  and  by 
some  trickery  they  persuaded  him  that  they  too  could  turn 
water  into  blood,  as  Moses  had  done  ;  whereupon  he  "turned 
and  went  into  his  house,"  shutting  out  the  marvel  from  his 
sight  and  from  his  thought,  and  "hardening  his  heart"  (ver.  22), 
as  he  had  done  before.  The  affliction  did  not  greatly  afflict 
him.  Such  water  as  was  procurable  (ver.  24)  would  be  supplied 
to  him  in  tolerable  abundance  for  his  ablutions  ;  perfumes  would 
be  burnt  in  his  apartments  to  purify  the  air;  and  the  rich  wines  of 
Anthylla  and  the  Mareotis  would  compensate  to  him  for  the  loss 
of  the  sweet  Nile  water,  which  was  perhaps  not  often  included 
among  his  beverages.  So  he  waited  till  the  judgment  should 
pass,  or,  perhaps  from  his  own  point  of  view,  till  the  natural  pheno- 
menon should  exhaust  itself,'  and  the  great  stream  resume  its 
ordinary  appearance  and  character. 

The  judgment  did  pass.  After  "  a  week  of  days"  Nile  did 
resume  his  ordinary  appearance,  and  the  first  trial  was  over. 
Egypt,  and  the  Pharaoh,  had  a  breathing  space.  But  it  was 
not  for  long.  After  a  brief  space  the  two  importunate  Hebrews, 
divinely  directed,  again  appeared  before  the  monarch,  again 
made  their  demand  in  the  name  of  Jehovah — "  Let  My  people 
go,  that  they  may  serve  Me  " — were  again  refused,  and,  at  the 
Divine  command,  announced,  and  then  brought  about, 

The  Second  Plague. 

Aaron  stretched  forth  his  hand  over  the  waters  of  Egypt — in 
act,  probably,  over  the  Nile  only,  in  intention  "over  the  streams, 
over  the  rivers,  and  over  the  ponds"  (Exod.  viii.  5) — and  lo, 

'  The  Nile  does  occasionally  turn  red,  owing  to  the  presence  in  the  water 
cf  microscopic  cryptograms  and  infusoria.  Pharaoh  may  have  persuaded 
himself  that  what  he  saw  was  a  mere  aggravation  of  an  ordinary  pheno- 
menon. 

8 


98  MOSES. 

there  was  a  plague  of  frogs.  Frogs  in  hundreds,  in  thousands, 
in  tens  of  thousands,  in  millions,  came  up  out  of  the  waters — 
coarse,  ungamly  animals,  if  the  species  was  the  naturalist's  Raiia 
Mosaica— and  entered  the  villages  and  the  towns,  and  filled  the 
streets,  and  made  their  way  into  the  houses,  and  ascended  into 
the  sleeping  apartments,  and  penetrated  into  the  kitchens,  and 
hopped  on  the  rich  coverlets,  and  entered  the  ovens  and  the 
kneading-troughs  (ver.  3),  and,  in  fact,  were  everywhere,  on  the 
couches,  on  the  beds,  in  the  food.  How  intolerable  such  a 
visitation  may  be,  we  see  by  the  story  which  is  told  by  Phoenius, 
a  disciple  of  Aristotle,  concerning  the  Paeonians  and  Darda- 
nians.  "In  Paeonia  and  Dardania,"  he  says,  "there  appeared 
once  suddenly  such  a  multitude  of  frogs,  that  they  filled  the 
houses  and  the  streets.  Therefore — as  killing  them  or  shutting 
the  doors  was  of  no  avail,  as  even  the  vessels  were  full  of  them, 
the  water  infested,  and  all  food  uneatable ;  as  they  could  scarcely 
set  their  foot  upon  the  ground  without  treading  on  heaps  of  them, 
and  as  they  were  greatly  vexed  by  the  smell  of  the  great  numbers 
which  died — they  fled  from  that  region  altogether." '  Similar  tales 
are  related  by  Diodorus  and  Pliny.^  Frogs  in  such  multitudes  as 
are  described,  form  not  merely  an  annoyance,  but  an  actual 
misery.  To  have  the  whole  country  filled  with  these  disgusting 
reptiles,  to  be  unable  to  walk  in  the  streets  without  treading  on 
them,  to  find  them  not  only  occupying  one's  doorstep,  but  in  pos- 
session of  one's  house,  in  one's  bedchamber,  and  upon  one's  bed, 
to  hear  their  dismal  croak  perpetually — (SpeKEKed^  koo.^  koq.^ — ovStv 
aWo  ttXjjv  Kodt, — to  see  nothing  but  their  loathsome  forms 
whithersoever  one  looked,  to  be  in  perpetual  contact  with  them 
and  feel  the  repulsion  of  their  cold,  rough,  clammy  skin,  to  find 
them  in  one's  water  and  in  one's  food,  would  amount  to  a  severe 
affiiction,  and,  if  continued  long,  might  drive  men  to  despair. 
And  the  torture  would  be  increased  if,  as  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve was  the  case  in  Egypt,  those  who  SL.Jered  from  them  were 
not  allowed  to  kill  them.  One  of  the  Egyptian  divinities,  Heka, 
has  the  head  of  a  frog,  and  we  may  presume  therefore  that  the 
frog  was  a  sacred  animal  which  it  was  not  lawful  to  destroy. 
They  had,  therefore,  to  be  allowed  to  do  much  as  they  pleased  ; 
a  man  might  not  remove  them  from  his  bed,  or  from  his  drinking- 
cup,  except  tenderly.     Still,  they  would  have  died  in  large  num- 

^  Eustath.  ad.  Horn.  II.  i.  p.  35. 

*  Diod.  Sic.  iii.  30  ;  Pliny,  "  H.  N."  viii.  29. 


THE   LONG  STRUGGLE  WITH    PHARAOH.  99 

bers — smothered  one  by  another,  crushed  accidentally  behind 
doors,  trampled  through  dire  necessity  beneath  the  foot  of  man 
and  beast,  and  the  houses  and  streets  would  soon  be  full  of  their 
mangled  remains,  and  then  a  stench  would  arise.  It  is  extra- 
ordinary what  poor,  weak,  insignificant  things  may  be  made  by 
God  into  whips  to  scourge  men  beyond  endurance.  Strangely, 
as  it  seems  to  us,  He  "  chooses  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to 
confound  the  things  that  are  strong,  and  the  base  things  of  the 
world,  and  the  things  that  are  despised,  yea,  and  the  things 
that  are  not,  to  bring  to  nought  the  things  that  are"  (i  Cor.  ii.  28). 
The  plague  of  the  frogs,  which  affected  himself  as  much  as  the 
meanest  of  his  people,  was  felt  by  the  Pharaoh  to  be  intolerable, 
and  he  now  showed  his  first  sign  of  yielding — "  Intreat  the 
Lord,"  he  said,  "  that  He  may  take  away  the  hogs  from  me  and 
from  my  people,  AND  I  will  lei  ihe  people  go^  that  they  may  do 
sacrifice  unto  the  Lord"  (Exod.  viii.  8).  His  request  was 
granted,  that  his  sincerity  might  be  tested,  and  on  the  morrow 
the  frogs  "  departed  " — "  died  out  of  the  houses,  out  of  the 
villages,  and  out  of  the  fields  ;  and  they  gathered  them  together 
into  heaps;  and  the  land  stank"  (vers.  13,  14).  The  very 
removal  of  the  plague  in  one  respect  intensified  it— a  sickly 
odour  exhaled  from  the  heaps  of  putrifying  reptiles,  which  filled 
the  streets,  the  gardens,  and  the  open  country. 

In  the  second  plague,  as  in  the  first,  a  blow  was  aimed  at  the 
Egyptian  religion.  In  the  first  place,  the  plague  came  out  of 
the  Nile.  That  sacred  stream,  so  fondly  worshipped  as  the 
giver  of  all  good,  was  the  generator  of  this  great  evil.  Nile, 
wont  to  bestow  nothing  but  blessings,  brought  forth  this  curse. 
Next,  the  goddess  Heka  was  discredited,  and  passed  under  a 
cloud.  Further,  the  animal-worship  received  a  second  dis- 
couragement. How  could  those  creatures  be  Divine  which  had 
aroused  such  hatred  and  loathing  in  the  hearts  of  the  entire 
people?  How  could  they  henceforth  be  looked  upon  without 
detestation?  Despite  their  religious  belief,  many  Egyptians 
had  probably  killed  numbers  while  the  plague  lasted,  as  a 
Brahmin  will  kill  flies  when  they  torment  him.  How  could 
those  who  had  done  so  and  suffered  no  calamity  in  consequence 
ever  again  put  any  faith  in  this  portion  of  the  creed  which  had 
been  taught  them  ?  The  whole  theory  of  sacred  animals 
must  have  suffered  a  shock  when  Heka's  sacred  sign,  the 
emblem  of  fecundity  and  productiveness,  became  an  object  of 
hatred  and  abhorrence. 


lOO  MOSES. 

"  When  Pharaoh  saw  that  there  was  respite,  he  hardened  his 
heart,  and  hearkened  not  unto  Moses  and  Aaron,  as  the  Lord 
had  said"  (Exod.  viii.  15).  On  reflection,  Pharaoh  perhaps 
thought  that  there  was  not  so  much  in  the  miracle  as  he  had  at 
first  fancied.  His  magicians  had  been  able  to  "bring  up  frogs" 
out  of  water  (ver.  7),  or  at  least  had  appeared  to  do  so.  When 
the  plague  was  past  it  seemed  perhaps  ridiculous  to  have  been 
so  annoyed,  so  vexed,  and  irritated,  by  such  a  trifle.  At  any 
rate,  for  whatever  reason,  he  changed  his  tone,  went  from  his 
word  in  most  unkingly  fashion,  and  withdrew  the  permission 
which,  under  the  pressure  of  the  calamity,  he  had  granted. 
This  tergiversation  provoked  God  to  send  upon  Egypt,  without 
any  previous  notice  or  warning. 

The  Third  Plague. 

The  nature  of  the  third  plague  is  disputed.  The  Hebrew  word 
used  {kinniin),  both  in  Exodus  and  in  the  Book  of  Psalms  (Ps. 
cv.  31),  is  thought  by  some  to  mean  "gnats,"  by  others  "lice." 
The  critical  authorities  on  either  side  are  tolerably  equally 
balanced,  and  the  arguments  which  they  adduce  have  very 
nearly  equal  force.  Josephus  may  fairly  be  set  against  Philo, 
the  Rabbinical  writers  against  Gesenius.  It  is  not,  perhaps, 
without  reason  that  the  recent  Revisers  of  the  Old  Testament 
have  retained  "  lice"  in  the  text,  and  relegated  "  sand-flies  "  to 
the  margin.  The  Egyptians  had  an  intense  hatred  of  lice,  and 
looked  upon  them  as  so  impure  that  the  priests  were  required 
to  "shave  their  entire  bodies  every  other  day,  in  order  that  no 
louse  or  other  impure  creature  might  adhere  to  them  when  they 
were  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  gods."  ^  And  lice  in  North 
Africa  constitute  a  terrible  affliction.  Sir  S.  Baker  says,  "  At 
certain  seasons  it  is  as  if  the  very  dust  of  the  land  were  turned 
into  lice,"  and  describes  the  lice  in  question  as  "a  sort  of  tick, 
not  larger  than  a  grain  of  sand,  which,  when  filled  with  blood, 
expands  to  the  size  of  a  hazel  nut."  ^  As  the  first  and  second 
plagues  were  fitted  to  work  upon  the  Egyptian  abhorrence  of 
impurity  and  defilement,  so,  if  we  understand  the  kiiuiiiii  as 
"lice,"  would  the  third  be. 

The  plague,  whatever  it  was,  seems  not  to  have  moved  the 
Pharaoh.      Though  his  magicians  were  unable  to  imitaie  or 

*  Herodotus,  ii.  37. 

»  See  Millington's  "  Signs  and  Wonders  in  the  Land  of  Ham,"  p.  85. 


THE   LONG   STRUGGLE  WITH   PHARAOH.  lOI 

counterfeit  it,  and  confessed  at  length  that  here  was  "  the  finger 
of  God"  (ver.  I9\  yet  he  himself  made  no  sign  of  submission, 
gave  no  indication  even  of  personal  annoyance.  Perhaps  the 
plague  was  not  upon  ///;//.  The  care  of  his  attendants  may  have 
kept  him  free  from  the  scourge  which  tormented  his  people. 
According  to  Josephus,  it  was  a  scourge  of  a  terrible  character. 
"  The  bodies  of  the  Egyptians,"  he  says,  "  themselves  bred  the 
vermin,  and  they  suffered  most  grievously,  for  baths  and  oint- 
ments were  equally  unavailing  to  root  out  the  evil  whereby  they 
were  afflicted."  '  The  foul  and  disgraceful  character  of  the 
plague  was  perhaps  its  most  distressing  feature.  Priding  them- 
selves, as  they  had  ever  done,  on  their  extreme  personal  cleanli- 
ness, their  delicacy,  and  their  refinement,  the  calamity  placed 
them  upon  a  par  with  the  untidiest  and  filthiest  races  of  their 
continent.  It  unfitted  them,  while  it  lasted,  alike  for  society, 
for  appearance  in  public,  and  for  religious  worship.  They  could 
not  dare  to  carry  such  an  impurity  into  a  temple  ;  they  could 
not  risk  disgracing  themselves  by  the  revelation  of  their  con- 
dition to  their  fellow-countrymen.  Each  probably,  as  far  as 
possible,  hid  his  shame,  and,  isolating  himself  from  the  rest  of 
mankind,  nursed  in  secret  the  foulness  which  clung  to  him. 

It  is  further  to  be  noticed  that  the  calamity  was  "upon  the 
beasts"  (vers,  17,  18) — perhaps  especially  upon  the  sacrcal  beasts. 
The  most  famous  temples  of  Egypt  contained,  each  of  them,  a 
sacred  beast — a  bull,  a  cow,  or  a  he-goat — which  was  regarded 
as  an  absolute  incarnation  of  deity  ;  and  sacred  animals  of  one 
kind  or  another  were  probably  kept  in  all  the  temples.  Nothing 
would  have  more  horrified  and  astounded  the  Egyptians  than  to 
find  their  sacred  animals  defiled  by  the  impurity  of  vermin.  It 
was  their  habit  to  bestow  the  extremest  care  upon  these  crea- 
tures, to  wash  them,  comb  them,  and  keep  their  skin  perfectly 
clean,  bright,  and  glossy.  Lice  upon  the  Holy  Apis  would  have 
seemed  to  an  Egyptian  a  profanation  of  the  deepest  dye,  one 
which  he  could  scarcely  imagine  the  gods  allowing.  Such  an 
affliction  upon  the  sacred  beasts  generally  would  have  caused 
a  suspicion  that  Egypt  was  altogether  deserted  by  her  deities, 
and  had  nothing  to  expect  but  ruin. 

However,  this  plague,  like  the  others,  endured  for  a  time 
only,  after  which  it  passed  away.  There  was  no  sudden,  perhaps 
no  complete,  removal  of  it  ;  but  it  slackened  and  gradually  died 
'  Josephus,  "Ant.  jud."  ii.  14.  ^^  3. 


I02  MOSES. 

out.  An  interval  of  repose  followed,  the  length  of  which  we 
have  no  means  of  estimating  ;  and  then  a  fresh  fiat  went  forth 
from  Jehovah  which  resulted  in 

The  Fourth  Plague. 

Pharaoh  had  once  more  "gone  forth  to  the  water"  (Exod.  viii. 
20),  to  celebrate,  as  it  would  seem,  another  Nile  festival.  The 
time  was  early  morning,  perhaps  while  the  opal  tints  still  held 
possession  of  the  sky,  and  before  the  rosy  fingers  of  the  dawn 
had  meddled  with  them.  The  silence  and  freshness  of  the 
hour  had  a  peculiar  charm,  and  Pharaoh,  with  his  attendant 
priests  and  courtiers,  may  have  been  sensible  of  it.  The  bitter- 
ness of  death  seemed  to  be  past ;  calm  had  succeeded  storm. 
Surely  Egypt  had  suffered  enough  affliction,  and  was  now 
about  to  enjoy  a  time  of  repose.  To  the  dismay  of  the  king 
and  the  Court,  the  profound  silence  is  suddenly  broken  by  the 
familiar,  and  now  hated,  cry  :  "  Thus  saith  Jehovah,  Let  My 
people  go,  that  they  may  serve  Me."  The  importunate  Hebrews, 
Moses  and  Aaron,  are  there  before  the  king,  and  break  in  upon 
his  intended  ceremonial  with  their  unaltered,  unalterable  request. 
And  with  the  request  is  coupled  a  threat  :  "  Else,  if  thou  wilt 
not  let  My  people  go,  behold,  I  will  send  the  ''arob  upon  thee, 
and  upon  thy  servants,  and  upon  thy  people ;  and  the  houses 
of  the  Egyptians  shall  be  full  of  the  'arob,  and  also  the  ground 
whereon  they  are.  .  .  .  And  I  will  put  a  division  between  My 
people  and  thy  people.  To-morrow  shall  this  sign  be"  (vers. 
21-23). 

From  the  way  in  which  the  threat  is  expressed  we  must 
conclude  that  "  the  ''arob  was  a  well-known  and  terrible  pest. 
Possibly  it  was  a  particular  kind  of  fly,  since  the  LXX.  translate 
the  Hebrew  word  by  Kvv6\xvia,  "dog-fly"  {Miisca  canmd).  But 
more  probably  it  was  a  peculiarly  destructive  beetle.  There 
is  in  Egypt  a  sort  of  beetle,  the  Blatta  orientalis  or  Kakerlaque, 
which  from  time  to  time  appears  suddenly  in  great  multitudes, 
and  constitutes  a  plague  of  a  very  marked  character.  "  Ceux 
qui  ont  voyage  sur  le  Nil,"  says  Munk,'  "savent  combien  cet 
insecte  est  incommode;  les  bateaux  en  sont  infestes,  et  on  les 
voit  souvent  en  milliers."  "  They  inflict,"  says  Kalisch,^  "  very 
painful  bites  with  their  jaws ;  gnaw  and  destroy  clothes,  house- 
bold  furniture,  leather,  and  articles  of  every  kind,  and  either 
'  "Palestine,"  p.  120.  ^  Commentary  on  Exodus,  ii.  20-24. 


THE   LONG   STRUGGLE  WITH    PHARAOH.  T03 

consume  or  render  unavailable  all  eatables."  The  beetles 
ever^Avhere  covered  the  ground  {ver.  21),  as  the  frogs  had 
done;  they  swarmed  into  the  houses  (ver.  24)  ;  they  destroyed 
the  produce  of  the  land  (ver.  24).  Pharaoh's  palace  was  not 
exempt  from  their  intrusion  :  its  goodly  furniture  became  their 
prey  ;  its  dainty  viands  were  covered  with  their  dark  and 
hideous  forms.  Being  beetles,  they  were  sacred,  emblems  of 
the  Sun,  and  emanations  from  his  effulgence,  types  of  creative 
power,  representatives  of  Khepra,  the  Sun-god  considered  as 
Creator,  who  was  commonly  figured  under  the  form  of  a  beetle, 
or  as  a  man  with  a  beetle  for  his  head.  It  was  therefore  unlaw- 
ful to  destroy  them,  and  their  ravages  had  to  be  submitted  to 
unresistingly.  He  who  crushed  a  beetle  crushed  a  god,  and 
must  expect  to  be  pursued  by  the  Divine  vengeance  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  So  the  Eg)ptians  had  to  ''suffer  and  be 
stilL'' 

A  peculiar  feature  of  the  Fourth  Plague  was  the  exemption 
of  the  Israelites  from  the  calamity'.  Hitherto  they  had  suffered 
in  common  with  their  oppressors,  if  not  to  the  same  extent.  Now 
God  announced  that  He  would  "put  a  division"  between  His 
|>eopleand  the  people  of  Pharaoh ;  Israel  should  not  be  involved 
in  the  afflictions  of  Eg>-pt;  He  would  show  His  j>ower  by 
"  severing ''  between  the  land  of  Goshen  and  the  rest  of  the 
Egyptian  territory  (ver.  22).  It  is  possible  that  this  new 
feature  impressed  the  Pharaoh  in  a  peculiar  way.  He  may 
have  thought  hitherto  that  Jehovah  could  not  proceed  to  extre- 
mities with  him  and  his  people  without  involving  His  o\\-n 
worshipf>ers  in  the  common  destruction.  Now  it  had  become 
apparent  that  this  was  not  so.  A  line  of  demarcation  could  be, 
had  been,  drawn.  Jehovah  could,  and  would,  protect  His  own  ; 
Eg},-pt  might  be  destroyed  and  Israel  left  untouched.  The 
Pharaoh,  at  any  rate,  now  relented  for  the  second  time.  He 
summoned  Moses  and  Aaron  into  his  presence,  and  addressed 
them  with  the  words  :  "Go  ye,  sacririce  to  the  Lord  your  God 
in  the  land  "  ver.  25).  It  was  not  a  full  compliance  with  their 
request,  as  on  the  former  occasion  (ver.  8),  but  the  suggestion 
of  a  compromise.  He  would  permit  them  to  offer  the  sacririce 
which  they  desired,  but  they  must  offer  it  "in  the  land" — t.^^ 
within  the  limits  of  the  Egyptian  terriior)*.  Then  there  would 
be  no  danger  of  his  losing  his  bond-slaves'  ser\ices;  for  their 
ever>'  movement  would  be  watched,  and  the  exits  of  the  land 


I04  MOSES. 

would  be  cruarded.  But  the  compromise  has  no  attraction  for 
Moses,  who  unhesitatingly  rejects  it.  There  must  be  no 
bargaining  between  man  and  God.  God  has  declared  His 
will — the  Israelites  are  to  have  leave  to  go  a  three  days' 
journey  into  the  wilderness,  and  there,  beyond  the  limits 
of  Egypt,  to  offer  their  sacriiice.  No  less  than  this  will  be 
accepted.  And  IMoses  now  assigns  a  reason.  He  and  his 
people  will  have  to  sacrifice  animals  which  the  Egyptians 
regard  as  holy,  and  under  no  circumstances  to  be  put  to  death. 
The  result  will  be  a  riot,  a  bloody  conflict,  an  attempt  to  stone 
the  chieftains  of  the  Israelites,  leading  on,  perhaps,  to  a  war 
between  the  two  nations.  The  reason  is  so  cogent  that  the 
Pharaoh  cannot  but  yield  to  it  :  he  will  let  them  go,  then,  he 
says,  beyond  the  borders,  into  the  wilderness — only  they  must 
not  go  very  far  away  ;  and  Moses  must  at  once  prevail  on 
Jehovah  to  remove  the  plague  (ver.  28).  Moses  consents, 
and  at  his  prayer  the  plague  is  on  the  morrow  completely  and 
entirely  removed — not  one  ^a7'bb  remained  within  the  Egyptian 
coasts  (ver.  31).  Then,  as  before,  Pharaoh  "hardened  his 
heart,"  fled  from  his  word,  and  revoked  the  permission  which 
he  had  given  for  the  Israelites'  departure. 

The  Fifth  Plague 

is  the  immediate  punishment  of  Pharaoh's  obduracy  and 
untruthfulness.  It  is  a  murrain  of  a  very  grievous  kind  upon 
the  domesticated  animals  in  general,  "upon  the  horses,  upon 
the  asses,  upon  the  camels,  upon  the  oxen,  and  upon  the 
sheep "  (Exod.  ix.  3).  Though  Egypt  was  in  the  main  an 
agricultural  country,  yet  the  wealth  of  its  rich  men  consisted 
largely  in  the  number  of  their  cattle  and  other  animals.  A 
single  individual  appears  in  one  instance  as  the  possessor  of 
above  a  thousand  cows  and  oxen,  besides  2,235  go^^s,  974 
sheep,  and  750  asses. ^  The  king  himself  owned  flocks  and 
herds  of  a  large  size  (Gen.  xlvii.  6).  The  cattle  at  the  time 
of  the  inundation  were  conveyed  to  the  towns  and  villages, 
where  they  were  sheltered  in  stables  or  sheds,  but  during  the 
rest  of  the  year  they  were  "  in  the  field,"  either  feeding  freely 
or  engaged  in  agricultural  operations.  The  horses  would  be 
mostly  in  stables,  though  some  were  probably  employed  in 
agriculture,  and  others  may  have  been  "out  at  grass." 
*  Lepsius,  "  Denkmaler,"  vol.  iii.  pi.  9. 


THE  LONG  STRUGGLE  WITH  PHARAOH.        I05 

Murrains  in  Egypt  are  often  very  violent.  They  commonly 
befj^in  in  November  or  December,  when,  after  the  subsidence 
of  the  inundation,  the  cattle  are  turned  out  into  the  fields  and 
have  free  access  suddenly  to  abundance  of  green  food.  There 
were  severe  murrains  in  the  years  1842,  1863,  and  1866,  in 
which  last-named  year  nearly  the  whole  of  the  herds  were 
destroyed.  It  is  not  usual,  however,  for  such  visitations  to 
attack  the  various  kinds  of  domestic  animals  at  once,  and  the 
fact  that  on  this  occasion  the  plague  was  indiscriminate,  toge- 
ther with  its  severity  (ver.  6\  and  its  prediction  for  a  definite 
day  (ver.  5),  marked  the  miraculous  character  of  the  affliction. 
All  over  the  land,  from  the  eastern  frontier,  where  camels  were 
bred  and  nourished  for  the  trade  with  Syria  and  Arabia,  to  the 
extreme  west,  where  Egypt  melted  into  Libya,  and  thence  for 
nearly  a  thousand  miles  up  the  Nile  valley  to  the  First  Cataract, 
disease  hung  in  the  air ;  the  moans  of  the  cattle  were  heard, 
the  horses  of  the  great,  the  asses  of  the  poor,  staggered,  sank, 
perished.  Everywhere  was  distress,  impoverishment,  ruin.  The 
previous  afflictions  had  been  disgusting,  annoying,  painful,  but 
only  to  a  very  small  extent  destructive  of  property.  This 
attacked  a  main  source  of  the  national  wealth  ;  this  reduced 
to  poverty  many  a  great  landowner,  threw  out  of  employment 
thousands  of  herdsmen,  produced  distress  and  complaining  all 
over  the  land  from  one  end  to  the  other.  It  showed,  moreover, 
that  life  and  death  were  in  the  hands  of  Him  with  wdiom  the 
Pharaoh  had  to  do,  and  was  a  warning  that,  unless  Israel  were 
let  go,  the  wrath  of  Jehovah,  which  was  now  smiting  the  beasts, 
might  be  turned  against  his  human  creatures.  And  this  plague, 
like  the  last,  was  aggravated  by  the  knowledge  that  Israel  was 
exempt  from  it.  Across  the  invisible  boundary-line  which  God 
had  drawn  between  Egypt  Proper  and  Goshen  (Exod,  viii.  22) 
not  a  beast  was  sick  or  ailing.  Pharaoh  could  not  believe  that 
it  would  be  so,  and  therefore  sent  men  to  see  and  inquire,  who 
brought  him  back  word  that  of  the  cattle  of  the  children  of 
Israel  there  had  died  not  one.  All  in  Goshen  went  on  as 
usual  ;  there  was  no  distress,  no  anxiety.  As  of  old,  "  their 
oxen  were  strong  to  labour  ;  there  was  no  decay ;  their  sheep 
brought  forth  thousands  and  ten  thousands  in  their  streets" 
(Psa.  cxliv.  13,  14).  The  power  of  God  stopped  the  epidemic 
at  a  certain  line,  saying  to  it  with  irresistible  might  :  "  Thus  far 
shalt  thou  go,  and  no  further." 


I06  MOSES. 

Moreover,  this  plague,  like  the  others,  smote  the  religion  of 
Egypt.  Cows,  or  at  any  rate  white  cows,  were  sacred  to  I  sis, 
and  objects  of  popular  veneration.  Goats  were  worshipped  at 
Mendes,  and  sheep  at  Thebes.  It  was  a  grief  to  the  Egyptians 
when  any  of  the  sacred  animals  died.  Vast  numbers  of  them 
dying  at  one  and  the  same  time  would  amount  to  a  national 
calamity.  If  the  plague  fell  on  any  of  those  specially  sacred 
beasts  which  were  regarded  as  actual  incarnations  of  particular 
gods,  on  the  Apis-Bull  maintained  at  Memphis,  or  the  Mnevis- 
Bull  of  Heliopolis,  or  the  White  Cow  of  Momemphis,  the 
religious  horror  caused  by  the  plague  would  beyond  a  doubt 
have  been  greatly  intensified ;  and  it  has  been  supposed  that 
they  all  "perished  together"  in  this  murrain^  :  but  there  is  no 
evidence  of  any  such  destruction.^  Rather,  as  the  plague 
appears  to  have  been  limited  to  the  beasts  that  were  "  in  the 
field"  (Exod.  ix.  3),  and  the  incarnation-gods  were,  all  of  them, 
kept  under  shelter  in  the  main  buildings  or  in  the  precincts  of 
sanctuaries,  we  must  regard  them  as  having  escaped  the  afflic- 
tion. Had  it  been  otherwise,  the  Pharaoh  would  scarcely  have 
been  so  little  impressed  as  he  was  ;  we  should  have  found  him 
sending  for  Moses  and  Aaron  and  entreating  to  have  the  plague 
stopped.  His  actual  behaviour  is  the  exact  contrary.  He  takes 
no  notice,  makes  no  appeal,  but  simply  hardens  his  heart,  and 
will  not  let  the  people  go  (ver.  7). 

Thus,  a  further  affliction  becomes  necessary,  if  Pharaoh  is 
not  to  triumph ;  and  so  the  two  brothers  receive  a  Divine 
command  to  take  such  steps  as  are  to  bring  about 

The  Sixth  Plague. 

The  command  is,  that  they  shall  "  take  ashes  of  the  furnace," 
and  that  Moses  shall  "  sprinkle  it  toward  the  heaven  in  the 
sight  of  Pharaoh  ; "  and  the  ashes,  it  is  said,  are  to  become 
"small  dust  to  all  the  land  of  Egypt,"  and  to  be  "a  boil  breaking 
forth  with  blains  upon  man  and  upon  beast,  throughout  all  the 
land  of  Egypt"  (ver.  9).  As  water,  and  earth,  and  air  had 
been  made  to  bring  forth  scourges  to  chastise  the  pride  of 
Pharaoh,  so  now  a  plague  was  brought  forth,  as  it  were,  from 

*  See  Millington,  "Signs  and  Wonders  in  the  Land  of  Ham,"  p.  108. 

=  The  judgments  upon  the  gods  of  Egypt,  mentioned  in  Num.  xxxiii.  4, 
are  more  likely  to  have  been  effected  by  the  sixth  and  tenth  plagues  than 
by  the  fifth. 


THE  LONG  STRUGGLE  WITH  PHARAOH.        I07 

fire.  Ashes  of  the  furnace,  the  crumbling  remains  of  the  fuel 
wherewith  a  furnace  had  been  heated,  were  taken  up  into  his 
hand  by  Moses  and  tossed  on  high  into  the  air,  to  be  carried 
hither  and  thither  by  the  winds  of  heaven ;  and  these  ashes, 
wherever  they  fell,  bred  disease,  caused  an  inflamed  boil  to  form 
itself,  which  broke  out  into  pustules,  and  produced  much  pain 
and  suffering.  The  magicians,  who  still  watched  the  miracles 
of  Moses,  though  they  had  for  some  time  given  up  attempting 
to  imitate  them,  were  unable  to  stand  before  him  by  reason  of 
the  boils,  which  fell  upon  them  with  such  severity  that  they  had 
to  quit  the  Court  and  retire  to  their  houses.  And  the  affliction, 
in  one  degree  or  another,  was  universal—"  the  boil  was  upon 
all  the  Egyptians"  (ver.  11)— every  one  of  them  suffered  from 
it.  It  may  also  have  been  upon  all  the  beasts,  though  this  is 
not  stated,  the  human  suffering  occupying  the  mind  of  the  writer 
of  Exodus  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  all  thought  of  the  animals. 
If,  however,  it  was  universal,  then  the  actual  gods  of  Egypt 
must  now  have  begun  to  suffer  those  judgments  which,  in  the 
Book  of  Numbers  (chap,  xxxiii.  4),  Jehovah  is  said  to  have 
executed  upon  them.  Even  if  it  was  not  universal,  still  some 
of  them  may  have  suffered  ;  for  the  light  ash,  borne  everywhere 
by  the  wind,  would  have  penetrated  into  temple  precincts  as 
readily  as  into  fields  or  pastures. 

The  sixth  plague  was  not  tentative,  but  simply  judicial,  sent 
without  warning,  like  the  third,  a  visitation  provoked  by  the 
pride  and  obstinacy  of  the  Pharaoh,  who  had  taken  no  notice  at 
all  of  the  preceding  affliction. 

The  sixth  plague  made  no  more  impression  upon  the  Pharaoh 
than  the  fifth.  His  heart  continued  hard,  as  hard  as  the  nether 
mill-stone  (Job  xli.  24).  Moses  was  therefore  instructed  to  give 
him  warning  of  a  further  plague,  and  to  preface  his  warning  by 
a  long  and  solemn  exhortation.  "  The  Lord  said  unto  Moses, 
Rise  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  stand  before  Pharaoh,  and 
say  unto  him.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  the  Hebrews,  Let  My 
people  go,  that  they  may  serve  Me.  For  I  will  at  this  time  send 
all  my  plagues  upon  thy  heart,  and  upon  thy  semants,  and  upon 
thy  people,  that  thou  mayest  know  that  there  is  none  like  Me  in 
all  the  earth.  For  now  might  I  have  stretched  forth  My  hand, 
and  smitten  thee  and  thy  people  with  pestilence,  and  then  thou 
hadst  been  cut  off  from  the  earth  ;  but  truly  for  this  cause  have 
I  made  thee  to  stand,  for  to  show  thee  My  power,  and  that  My 


lo8  MOSES. 

name  may  be  declared  throughout  all  the  earth.  Dost  thou  still 
exalt  thyself  against  My  people,  that  thou  wilt  not  let  them  go  ? 
Behold,  to-morrow  about  this  time  I  will  cause  it  to  rain  a  very 
grievous  hail,  such  as  hath  not  been  in  Egypt  since  the  founda- 
tion thereof,  even  until  now.  Send,  therefore,  now,  and  gather 
thy  cattle,  and  all  that  thou  hast  in  the  field  ;  for  upon  every 
man  and  beast  which  shall  be  found  in  the  field,  and  shall  not 
be  brought  home,  the  hail  shall  come  down  upon  them,  that 
they  shall  die"  (Exod.  ix.  13-19).  The  warning  is  given,  but  it 
has  no  effect — the  Pharaoh  utters  no  entreaty,  makes  no  promise, 
expresses  no  sorrow  for  the  past,  no  intention  of  doing  better  in 
the  future.  It  does  not  bend  his  will  to  be  reminded  that  God 
might  even  now  have  swept  him  and  his  people  from  the  earth 
(ver.  15);  it  does  not  break  his  pride  to  be  told  that  God  is 
about  to  "send  all  His  plagues  upon  his  heart"  (ver.  14).  And, 
therefore, 

The  Seventh  Plague 

falls.  Moses  stretches  forth  his  rod  toward  the  heaven,  and 
God  sends  thunder  and  hail, and  fire  that  "runs  along  upon  the 
ground  "  (ver.  23)  ;  there  is  "  hail,  and  fire  mingled  with  the 
hail,  very  grievous,  such  as  there  was  none  like  it  in  all  the  land 
of  Egypt  since  it  became  a  nation  "  (ver.  24).  Josephus  says 
it  was  *'  a  hail,  not  only  such  as  the  climate  of  Egypt  had  never 
previously  witnessed,  but  such  as  had  not  even  been  ever  experi- 
enced, in  time  of  winter  or  at  the  point  of  spring,  in  those 
northern  and  arctic  lands  which  were  accustomed  to  the  visi- 
tation." ^  The  Hebrew  poets  describe  it  in  language  of 
extraordinary  force :  "The  Lord  also  thundered  in  the  heavens; 
and  the  Highest  gave  His  voice  ;  hailstones  and  coals  of  fire" 
(Ps.  xviii.  13);  "  He  gave  them  hail  for  rain,  and  flaming  fire 
in  their  land"  (Ps.  cv.  32);  "  He  destroyed  their  vines  with  hail, 
and  their  sycomore  trees  with  frost  ;  He  gave  up  their  cattle 
also  to  the  hail,  and  their  flocks  to  hot  thunderbolts  "  (Ps. 
Ixxviii.  47,  48).  Terrible  must  have  been  the  commotion,  both 
in  earth  and  heaven.  As  Moses  raised  his  rod,  the  sky  grew 
black  ;  the  wind  rose  and  roared  ;  vast  hosts  of  clouds  assembled 
and  collided  in  the  upper  air  ;  the  lightning  flashed  from  rank 
to  rank  ;  the  thunder  crackled,  and  crashed,  and  boomed,  and 
filled  the  whole  canopy  of  heaven  with  its  echoes.    Not  only  did 

^  "  Ant.  Jud."  ii.  14,  J  4. 


THE   LONG   STRUGGLE   WITH    PHARAOH.  I09 

the  electric  fluid  pass  in  vivid  flashes  from  cloud  to  cloud,  or 
from  sky  to  earth,  but  collecting  itself  into  masses,  here  it  "  ran 
along  the  ground,"  there  it  was  "as  a  fire  infolding  itself" 
(ver.  24),  quivering  and  remaining  fixed  for  a  time,  as  "  fire- 
balls "  do  on  the  masts  and  yards  of  ships,  then  gliding  away  or 
dispersing.  The  hailstones  must  have  been  of  extraordinary 
size.  Probably  they  were  those  rough,  jag,:,cd  pieces  of  ice  such 
as  sometimes  fall  in  Europe  in  great  hailstorms,  which  have 
been  known  to  weigh  from  six  ounces  to  half  a  pound.  The 
destruction  caused  by  the  plague  was  immense.  The  flax  and 
barley  crops,  which  were  the  most  advanced,  were  cut  down 
and  totally  destroyed  ;  the  tender  twigs  of  the  fruit-trees  were 
crushed,  battered,  and  broken  off,  all  promise  of  fruit  for  the 
ensuing  year  being  thus  swept  away.  The  other  crops  and  the 
garden  vegetables  must  have  suffered  greatly.  But  the  damage 
was  not  confined  to  the  vegetable  world.  Any  cattle  that  the 
Egyptians  had  still  left  them,  which  they  had  not  removed  from 
the  fields  and  placed  under  shelter,  was  so  smitten  and  bruised 
by  the  hailstones  that  it  died  ;  and  even  the  herdsmen,  who 
were  exposed  to  the  full  brunt  of  the  storm,  were  in  many  cases 
wounded  to  their  death.  The  plague  was  thus  threefold  in  its 
incidence  ;  it  fell  "  upon  man,  and  upon  beast,  and  upon  every 
herb  of  the  field "  (ver.  22)  ;  it  half  ruined  the  harvest  ;  it 
swept  off  most  of  the  remaining  cattle,  and  it  slew  a  certain 
number  of  the  men.  Little  by  little  God  had  advanced  from 
visitations  that  were  mere  annoyances  (the  irogs,  the  hce,  the 
beetles)  to  those  that  inflicted  serious  injury  on  person  and 
property  (the  murrain,  the  boils)  ;  now  He  struck  at  life  itself. 
Dead  and  dying  men  lay  about  the  fields  and  pastures  and  the 
lesson  was  borne  in  on  all,  that,  if  God  were  much  longer  defied, 
He  might  send  a  pestilence  that  would  cut  off  half  the  nation 
(ver.  15). 

And,  while  Egypt  thus  suffered,  Goshen  was  once  more 
wholly  exempt  from  calamity.  "  In  the  land  of  Goshen  was 
there  no  hail "  (ver.  26).  The  clouds  turned  away  when  they 
reached  the  borders  of  the  land  of  God's  people,  or  held  their 
weapons  in  reserve  as  they  passed  over  it.  Not  a  blade  of  grass 
was  hurt,  not  a  stalk  of  barley  was  injured.  The  Lord  Jehovah, 
the  shelter  and  defence  of  Jacob,  "stood  round  about  His 
people,  and  delivered  them." 

Thus,  this  plague  was  marvellously  impressive  from  every 


no  MOSES. 

point  of  view.  Hail  was  scarcely  known  in  Egypt  ;  thunder 
and  lightning  were  rare  ;  while  such  a  hail  and  thunderstorm 
as  this  had  been  would  have  riveted  attention,  and  have  been 
felt  to  be  most  extraordinary,  anywhere.  The  storm  had  been 
foretold,  and  exactly  limited  to  a  particular  time — "  To-morrow 
about  this  time"  (ver.  i8).  The  extreme  severity  had  been 
predicted  (ver.  19)— God  had  declared  that  it  would  be  fatal 
both  to  man  and  beast.  It  had  come  at  the  time  fixed,  upon 
the  stretching  forth  of  Moses'  hand  toward  heaven  ;  it  had 
spared  Goshen ;  it  had  visited  all  Egypt  ;  it  had  produced  all 
the  effects  laid  down  beforehand.  No  wonder  that  the  Pharaoh 
was  now  for  the  third  time  impressed,  and  impressed  more 
deeply  than  he  had  been  previously.  It  was  now  that  he  first 
admitted  himself  to  have  been  in  the  wrong,  it  was  now  that  he 
first  acknowledged  that  he  was  justly  punished  :  "  I  have  sinned," 
he  said,  "  this  time  ;  the  Lord  is  righteous,  and  I  and  my 
people  are  wicked  "  (ver.  27).  "  Intreat  the  Lord  (for  it  is 
enough)  that  there  be  no  more  mighty  thunderings,  nor  hail ; 
and  I  will  let  you  go,  and  ye  shall  stay  no  longer"  (ver.  28). 
No  compromise  was  now  suggested,  no  condition  imposed,  no 
desire  even  expressed,  that  they  would  not  "go  very  far  away" 
(chap.  viii.  28).  The  promise  given  was  as  explicit  as  words 
could  make  it — "  I  will  let  you  go — ye  shall  stay  no  longer." 
For  the  time  the  spirit  of  the  king  seems  to  have  been  really 
humbled  and  bowed  down.  He  felt  his  nothingness  ;  he  felt  his 
sinfulness  ;  he  abased  himself  and  consented  to  Moses'  request, 
probably  without  arriere  pensee,  intending  to  keep  his  word, 
Moses,  though  he  had  no  faith  in  the  continuance  of  the  king's 
mood,  and  though  he  even  went  so  far  as  to  express  his  distrust 
(chap.  ix.  30),  allowed  himself  to  be  prevailed  upon  by  the 
earnestness  of  the  king's  entreaties,  and,  quitting  the  shelter 
of  the  city  while  the  storm  still  raged  around  him,  went  forth 
into  the  midst  of  it  and  prayed  to  God,  and  the  storm  ceased 
(ver.  33). 

Then  the  king  went  from  his  word  once  more.  "  When 
Pharaoh  saw  that  the  rain,  and  the  hail,  and  the  thunder  were 
ceased,  he  sinned  yet  more,  and  hardened  his  heart,  he  afid  his 
se?"iiants.  And  the  heart  of  Pharaoh  was  hardened,  neither 
would  he  let  the  children  of  Israel  go  ;  as  the  Lord  had  spoken 
by  Moses." 

The  end  was   now  approaching.      Pharaoh's  obduracy  had 


THE  LONG  STRUGGLE  WITH  PHARAOH.        Ill 

grown  worse  and  worse.  lie  had  added  to  the  sin  of  cruelty 
the  sin  of  disobedience,  and  to  the  sin  of  disobedience  the  un- 
kinjj^ly  sin  of  falseness.  He  had  raised  hopes  only  to  disappoint 
them  ;  he  had  made  submission  to  God  only  to  shake  off  his 
submission  and  resume  his  rebellious  attitude.  God  might  well 
now  have  sent  the  last  plague,  which  was  to  break  him  down 
absolutely  beneath  the  weight  of  its  affliction,  and  cause  him  to 
"thrust  the  Hebrews  out  "  (Exod.  xi.  i).  But  it  was  His  merci- 
ful decision  to  give  the  obdurate  monarch  two  more  chances  of 
repenting,  two  more  warnings  before  the  final  blow  was  dealt  ; 
and  accordingly  Moses  and  Aaron  were  instructed  to  seek  the 
Pharaoh's  presence  once  more,  and  to  announce  to  him,  in 
emphatic  terms, 

The  Eighth  Plague. 

"  Moses  and  Aaron  came  in  unto  Pharaoh,  and  said  unto  him, 
Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  the  Hebrews,  How  long  wilt  thou 
refuse  to  humble  thyself  before  Me  ?  Let  My  people  go  that 
they  may  serve  Me.  Else,  if  thou  refuse  to  let  My  people  go, 
behold,  to-morrow  I  will  bring  the  locusts  into  thy  coast ;  and 
they  shall  cover  the  face  of  the  earth,  that  one  cannot  be  able 
to  see  the  earth  ;  and  they  shall  eat  the  residue  of  that  which 
is  escaped,  which  remaineth  unto  you  from  the  hail,  and  shall 
eat  every  green  tree  which  groweth  for  you  out  of  the  field  ;  and 
they  shall  fill  thy  houses,  and  the  houses  of  thy  servants,  and  the 
houses  of  all  the  Egyptians  ;  which  neither  thy  fathers,  nor  thy 
father's  fathers  have  seen,  since  the  day  that  they  were  upon  the 
earth  unto  this  day"  (Exod.  x.  3-6).  The  threat  was  clear,  dis- 
tinct, very  intelligible.  The  Egyptians  well  knew  what  a  pest 
the  locust  could  be,  what  terrible  devastation  it  could  effect  in 
a  few  days,  or  even  in  a  few  hours.  Though  only  one  reference 
has  been  found  to  their  ravages  in  the  native  records,  yet  it  is 
certain  that  Egypt  must  always  have  been  subject  to  incursions 
of  them,  since  Syria  and  Arabia,  adjacent  countries,  are  special 
homes  of  the  locust.  Hence  the  threat  produced  an  unusual  effect, 
not  however  upon  the  Pharaoh,  but  upon  his  courtiers.  They  at 
once  realized  the  terrible  character  of  the  scourge,  and  the  dire 
results  which  would  follow,  if  after  the  destruction  wrought  by 
the  hail,  the  residue  of  the  harvest  and  of  the  vegetation  gene- 
rally should  be  eaten  up  by  locusts.  Accordingly,  the  courtiers 
now  for  the  first  time  interposed,  and  endeavoured  to  induce  the 
king  to  yield.     "  Pharaoh's  servants  said  unto  him.  How  long 


112  MOSES. 

shall  this  man  (Moses)  be  a  snare  unto  us  ?  Let  the  men  go 
that  they  may  serve  the  Lord  their  God.  Knowest  thou  not  yet 
that  Egypt  is  destroyed "  (ver.  7)  ?  Better,  far  better,  they 
thought,  to  lose  the  services,  even  of  half  a  million  of  bondsmen, 
than  to  have  Egypt  ruined,  impoverished  to  a  fearful  extent. 
And  the  Pharaoh  is  so  far  impressed  by  their  representations, 
that  he  sends  for  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  for  the  second  time 
offers  a  compromise — "  Go,  serve  the  Lord,  but  who  are  they  that 
shall  go?"  The  point  had  not  been  raised  hitherto.  It  had 
been  fully  understood  that  the  demand  was  general — "Let  My 
people  go."  But  the  Pharaoh  now  attempts  to  set  a  limit  of 
number,  as  he  had  before  atternpted  to  set  a  limit  of  distance 
(Exod.  viii.  25,  28).  "  Go,"  he  says,  "  ye  that  are  men,"  but  think 
not  that  I  will  let  you  go,  "  and  your  little  oiies^^  or  "with  your 
households."  No  ;  they  must  remain,  a  pledge  for  your  return. 
Again,  the  compromise  proposed  is  disallowed.  "  We  will  go," 
Moses  declared,  "  with  our  young  and  with  our  old,  with  our 
sons  and  with  our  daughters,  with  our  flocks  and  with  our  herds  ; 
for  we  must  hold  a  feast  unto  the  Lord"  (ver.  9).  The  Pharaoh, 
exasperated,  had  Moses  and  Aaron  driven  from  his  presence 
(ver.  11)  ;■  and  then  the  plague  fell  in  all  its  terrible  intensity. 
The  locusts  came  in  their  myriads  ;  they  covered  and  hid  the 
ground,  which  their  brown  forms  "darkened"  (ver.  15)  ;  they 
settled  on  every  herb  of  the  field  that  the  hail  had  left,  on  the 
wheat  and  r}'e  crops,  on  the  esculent  grasses,  on  the  clover  and 
lupines  and  lentils,  on  the  garlic  and  onions  and  leeks  and 
gourds  and  cucumbers,  and  further  upon  the  fruit-trees — the 
date-bearing  palms,  the  figs,  the  pomegranates,  mulberries,  vines, 
olives,  peach,  pear,  plum,  and  apple-trees — they  ate  the  fruit 
where  it  was  formed,  the  blossoms,  the  buds,  the  leaves,  the 
bark,  and  even  the  more  tender  twigs  :  they  utterly  destroyed 
every  green  thing  ;  where  the  land  was  as  the  garden  of 
Eden  before  them,  behind  them  it  vv-as  a  desolate  wilder- 
ness. And,  besides,  they  were  in  the  houses,  which  they 
"filled"  (ver.  6).  It  was  as  at  Novgorod  in  the  year  1646, 
where  an  intelligent  traveller  thus  describes  the  visitation  : 
"  The  ground  was  all  covered,  and  the  air  so  full  of  them  that  I 
could  not  eat  in  my  chamber  without  a  candle,  all  the  houses 
being  full  of  them,  even  the  stables,  barns,  chambers,  garrets, 
and  cellars.  I  caused  cannon-powder  and  sulphur  to  be  burnt 
to  expel  them,  but  all  to  no  purpose  ;  for  when  the  door  was 


THE   LONG   STRUGGLE   WITH    PHARAOH.  113 

opened,  an  infinite  number  came  in,  and  the  others  went  flutter- 
in<T  about  ;  and  it  was  a  troublesome  thing,  when  a  man  went 
ab'I-oad,  to  be  hit  on  the  face  by  these  creatures,  on  the  nose, 
eyes,  or  cheeks,  so  that  there  was  no  opening  one's  mouth  but 
some  would  get  in.  Yet  all  this  was  nothing  ;  for  when  we  were 
to  eat,  thev  gave  us  no  respite  ;  and  when  we  went  to  cut  a 
piece  of  meat,  we  cut  a  locust  with  it,  and  when  a  man  opened 
his  mouth  to  put  in  a  morsel,  he  was  sure  to  chew   one   of 

them.'" 

The  infliction  was  more  than  even  the  Pharaoh  could  bear  ; 
and.  though  he  had  just  before  had  Moses  and  Aaron  driven 
from  his  presence  (ver.  ii),  he  now  again  sent  for  them  "  m 
haste,"  and  piteouslv  intreated  for  pardon,  and  for  the  removal 
of  the  scourge.  "  I  have  sinned,"  he  said,  "  against  the  Lord 
your  God,  and  against  you  ;  now,  therefore,  forgive,  I  pray  thee, 
my  sin  only  this  once,  and  intrcat  the  Lord  your  God,  that  He 
may  take  awav  from  me  this  death  only"  (vers.  i6,  17).  Once 
more  Moses  complied  ;  once  more  God  was  intreated  ;  and  then 
the  ordinary  result  followed— the  Pharaoh's  heart  was  hardened, 
and  he  would  not  let  the  people  go  (ver.  20). 

The  Ninth  Plague 
now  came,  like  the  third  and  the  sixth,  without  warning.   "  The 
Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Stretch  out  thine  hand  toward  heaven, 
that  there  may  be  darkness  over  the  land  of  Egypt,  even  dark- 
ness which  may  be  felt.     And  Moses  stretched  forth  his  hand 
toward  heaven  ;  and  there  was  a  thick  darkness  in  all  the  land 
of  E'^-ypt  three  days  :  they  saw  not  one  another,  neither  rose  any 
from^his  place  for  three  days  ;  but  all  the  children  of  Israel  had 
li-ht  in  their  dwellings''  (Exod.  x.  21-23).    We  are  not  told  how 
the  darkness  was  produced,  and  no  theory  on  the  subject  can 
be  more  than  a  conjecture.    The  general  supposition  of  scholars 
and  historians  has  been,  that  the  natural  phenomena  of  the 
Khamsin  wind,  which  frequently  blows  in  Egypt  soon  after  the 
vernal  equinox,  were  by  miracle  so  aggravatedas  to  produce  the 
effects  described— a  darkness  that  was  total,  that  seemed  to  en- 
velop men  and  press  upon  them,  and  that  made  it  impossible  for 
them  to  move  about  in  it.     Whatever  the  cause,  the  effect  was 
awful  in  the  extreme.     A  great  horror  of  thick  darkness  fell  upon 
'  B-'auplan,  quoted  by  Dr.  Pusey  in  his  "  Minor  Prophets,  with  a  Com- 
mentary," p.  117. 


114  MOSES. 

the  whole  people.  Man  could  not  see  his  fellow.  Each  stayed 
where  he  was,  since  he  did  not  know  which  way  to  turn,  or 
whither  he  could  direct  his  steps  to  any  purpose.  Men's  hearts 
must  have  failed  them  for  fear,  and  the  end  of  the  world  must 
have  been  expected.  The  darkness  continued  for  three  days. 
Let  the  reader  imagine  three  entire  days — seventy-two  hours — 
without  a  single  gleam  of  light !  How  would  nervous  souls  be 
terrified  !  How  would  sensitive  imaginations  breed  gloomy  and 
horrible  phantasms  !  How  would  sinful  souls  tremble  with 
alarm  !  Artificial  light  they  seem  to  have  had  none,  whether  the 
power  of  producing  it  was  stopped  by  miracle,  or  whether  the 
terror  that  was  upon  them  was  too  great  for  them  to  dare  to 
move.  At  length,  after  three  days,  the  darkness  passed  off — 
the  light  of  the  sun  was  seen.  Ra,  it  was  found,  had  not  fallen 
from  his  place  in  the  heavens,  or  been  absorbed  and  extinguished 
in  the  primeval  darkness.  Nature  returned  to  her  old  course, 
and  nothing  remained  of  the  visitation  but  the  recollection  of 
it.  The  recollection  was,  however,  sufficient  to  move  the  proud 
heart  of  the  Pharaoh  to  a  fresh  concession.  He  sent  for  Moses, 
and  said  :  "  Go  ye,  serve  the  Lord  ;  only  let  your  flocks  and 
your  herds  be  stayed  ;  let  your  little  ones  (families)  also  go  with 
you"  (ver.  24).  All  Israel — the  w^hole  nation — might  depart, 
might  take  their  three  days'  journey  into  the  wilderness,  and 
there  hold  their  festival  ;  only  they  must  consent  to  one  thing — 
they  must  leave  behind  them  their  flocks  and  their  herds  ;  then 
the  Pharaoh  would  feel  tolerably  sure  of  their  returning;  they 
would  not  be  content  to  lose  the  main  source  of  their  wealth, 
and  so  he  would  not  lose  their  services. 

The  argument  was  valid,  the  plan  not  wanting  in  sagacity  ; 
but  the  craft  of  Pharaoh  was  ill-matched  against  the  downright 
straightforwardness  of  Moses.  Moses  would  have  none  of  his 
compromises.  Moses  saw  through  his  scheme  at  once,  and  met 
his  offer  with  the  plainest  and  most  absolute  refusal.  "  Thou 
must  give  us  also  sacrifices  and  burnt-offerings,"  he  replied, 
"that  we  may  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  our  God.  Our  cattle  also 
shall  go  with  us  ;  there  shall  not  an  hoof  be  left  behind^  And 
he  added  a  reason,  which  was  unanswerable — "  For  thereof  must 
we  take  to  serve  the  Lord  our  God  ;  and  we  know  not  with  what 
we  must  serve  the  Lord  until  we  come  thither"  (ver.  26).  The 
feast  was  a  new  thing  ;  its  ritual  was  unknown  ;  there  would  be 
sacrifices  to  be  offered  doubtless  ;  but  as  yet  the  Israelites  did 


THE   LONG   STRUGGLE  WITH    PHARAOH.  115 

not  know  what  animals,  or  how  many  of  each,  would  be  required 
of  them.  They  must  therefore  take  all  their  cattle.  As  Pharaoh 
cannot  meet  the  reasoning,  he  falls  in  a  rage,  bids  Moses  quit 
his  presence  forthwith,  and  threatens  him  with  death  if  he  again 
comes  into  his  sight.  Moses,  though  deeply  angered  (Exod. 
xi.  8),  indignant  at  such  rude  and  scornful  treatment,  restr.uns 
himself,  and  answers  with  dignified  calmness— "Thou  hast 
spoken  well,  I  will  see  thy  face  again  no  more  "  (Exod.  x.  29), 
but  before  quitting  the  presence,  he  lodges  a  Parthian  dart  in 
the  breast  of  his  adversary,  by  threatening  him  with  the  last  and 
worst  of  all  the   plagues— the  death  of  the   first-born   (Exod. 

xi.  4-8). 

Here,  we  may  note  the  great  change  which  had  been  wrought 
in  the  character  of  Moses  by  the  circumstances  of  his  long 
struggle  on  behalf  of  his  people.     At  its  commencement,  he  was 
timid,  diffident,  distrustful  of  his  powers,  hopeless  of  any  good 
result,  easily  cowed,  patient  of  affronts  and  insults.     Now  he  is 
firm,  resolute,  self-reliant,  self-assertive,  may  we  not  say,  elo- 
quent ?     No  wonder  that  he  was  "  very  great "  in  the  eyes  both 
of  the  great  officers  of  Pharaoh's  court  and  of  the  people  (ver.  3). 
He  had  withstood  and  baffled  the  magicians  ;  he  had  withstood 
Pharaoh  ;  he  had  never  blenched  nor  wavered ;  he  had  never  lost 
his  temper.     With  a  calm,  equable,  unfailing  persistence,  he  had 
gone  on  preferring  the  same  demand,  threatening  punishments 
if  it  were  not  granted,  inflicting  them,  and  removing  them  on 
the  slightest  show  of  repentance  and  relenting.     He  had  thus 
won  the  respect  both  of  the  upper  classes  and  of  the  common 
people,  as  much  as  the  Pharaoh  had  lost  it,  and  was  now  looked 
up  to  and  regarded  with  feelings  of  general  admiration  and  ap- 
proval.   The  utterance  with  which  he  wound  up  his  long  contest 
with  the  Pharaoh,  and  finally  quitted  his  presence,  is  a  model  of 
di-nified  speech  :  "Thou  hast  spoken  well  ;  I  will  see  thy  face 
no^'more.     But  thus  saith  the  Lord,  About  midnight  will  I  go 
out  into  the  midst  of  Egypt,  and  all  the  first-born  in  the  land  of 
Egypt  shall  die,  from  the  first-born  of  Pharaoh  that  sitteth  upon 
his  throne,  even  unto  the  first-born  of  the  maidservant  that  is 
behind  the  mill  ;  and  all  the  first-born  of  beasts.     And  there 
shall  be  a  great  cry  throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt,  such  as 
there  was  none  like  it,  nor  shall  be  like  it  anymore.  But  against 
any  of  the  children  of  Israel  shall  not  a  dog  move  his  tongue, 
against  man  or  beast ;  that  ye  may  know  how  that  the  Lord  doth 


Il6  MOSES. 

put  a  difference  between  the  Eg>'ptians  and  Israel.  And  all 
these  thy  servants  shall  come  down  unto  me,  and  bow  down 
themselves  unto  me,  saying,  Get  thee  out,  and  all  the  people  that 
follow  thee  ;  and  after  that,  I  will  go  out ''  (Exod.  x.  29  ;  xi.  4-8). 

The  Tenth  Plague. 
An  interval  of  some  duration  seems  to  have  separated  be- 
tween the  announcement  of  the  Tenth  Plague  and  its  actual 
infliction.^  Time  was  needed  by  Moses  to  make  the  necessary 
preparations  for  the  simultaneous  departure  of  the  Israelites 
from  all  the  various  parts  of  Egypt  which  they  occupied,  and 
for  their  convergence  towards  a  fixed  locality.  Pharaoh  and  his 
people  had  to  be  allowed  time  to  brood  over  the  threat  launched 
against  them,  and  to  realize  its  terrible  import,  if  so  be  that  they 
might  take  it  to  heart,  and  at  the  eleventh  hour  yield  to  God's 
will  and  so  escape  the  calamity.  The  hour  fixed  for  the  plague 
was  midnight  (Exod.  xi.  4)  ;  but  which  midnight  was  left  inde- 
terminate, the  horror  of  the  menace  being  increased  by  the 
vagueness  of  it.  In  the  interval  Moses  received  instructions  to 
institute  that  Passover  Feast  which  remains  to  this  day  an  en- 
during memorial  of  the  Exodus,  inexplicable  except  as  the  com- 
memoration of  a  historical  fact,  and  testifying  by  its  name  to  the 
nature  of  the  fact  commemorated.  God  willed  that  the  deliver- 
ance which  He  was  about  to  give  should  be  accompanied,  and 
thenceforth  kept  in  mind,  by  a  ceremony  which  He  now  insti- 
tuted, and  of  which  He  commanded  the  constant  observance. 
Each  householder  was  to  assemble  his  family  round  him ;  all 
were  to  be  prepared  as  for  a  journey,  their  long  garments 
girt  up  about  their  loins,  their  shoes  on  their  feet,  and  their  staffs 
in  their  hands  ;  a  lamb  was  to  be  sacrificed,  and  the  blood 
to  be  splashed  on  the  lintels  and  the  two  door-posts  of  the 
houses  ;  then  the  lamb  was  to  be  roasted  and  unleavened  bread 
hastily  prepared  to  eat  with  it ;  and  the  households  were  to  wait 
in  silent  expectation.  At  midnight  the  destroying  angel  was  to 
go  through  the  entire  land  of  Egypt,  smiting  in  each  house  the 
first-bom,  but  "  passing  over  "  the  houses  on  which  the  blood 
of  the  lamb  was  sprinkled.  Then  a  cry  would  be  heard,  and 
hurr}'ing  messengers  burst  in  from  Pharaoh,  requiring  all  to  "  go 
forth,  and  begone  from  among  his  people  ;  "  and  the  meal  pre- 
pared was  to  be  snatched  in  hot  haste,  and  eaten  standing,  and 
^  See  the  "  Speaker's  Commentary,"  voL  L  p.  291. 


THE   LONG   STRUGGLE  WITH   PHARAOH.  II? 

then  the  journey  was  to  begin.  All  had  to  be  explained  before- 
hand by  Moses,  and  all  arranged  beforehand  ;  the  households 
had  to  be  got  ready,  the  beasts  to  be  laden,  the  household  goods, 
•r  such  as  were  most  necessary,  to  be  packed,  the  people  to  ask 
for  farewell  presents  from  their  well-to-do  Egyptian  neighbours, 
and  all  to  be  in  preparation  for  an  immediate  start. 

Thus  the  two  nations  waited-on  the  one  hand,  the  Egyptians 
in  perplexity  and  anxious  doubt,  depressed  by  the  long  series 
of  calamities  which  had  fallen  upon  themselves  and  upon  their 
country,  not  knowing  when  a  new  calamity  would  fall,  or  what 
exactly  the  new  calamity  would  be  ;  shaken  from  their  estab- 
lished trusts  and  time-honoured  beliefs  by  the  marvels  which 
they  had  witnessed  ;  disappointed  in  their  king  ;  disappointed 
in  their  master-magicians,  disappointed  in  their  priests,   who 
had  not  even  availed  to  save  their  gods  from  suttering-and, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  Israelites,  expectant,  elated,  confident, 
that  the  time  approached  for  their  final  deliverance  from  the 
"  furnace  "  of  the  Egyptian  afiliction,  full  of  hope  and  full  of 
resolution,  sure  of  a 'leader  who  had  never  failed  them,  and 
fully  prepared   by  him  for   the   events   which  were   about    to 
happen.     Both  nations  waited,  and  at  last  the  blow  fell.     At 
midnight  of  the  fourteenth  of  Nisan,  the  Lord  went  forth,  and 
"  smo^e  all  the  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  from  the  first- 
born of  Pharaoh  that  sat  on  his  throne,  unto  the  first-born  of 
the  captive  that  was  in  the  dungeon  ;  and  all  the  first-born  of 
beasts.      And   Pharaoh  rose   up  in  the  night,  he,  and  all  his 
ser%-ants,  and  all  the  Eg>ptians  ;  and  there  was  a  great  cr>'  in 
Egypt,  for  there  was  not  a  house  where  there  was  not  one 
dead"'  (Exod.  xii.  29,  30).      The  cry  was  "the  loud,  frantic, 
funeral  wail,  characteristic  of  the  nation."'     It  went  up  from 
the   royal   palace,  from   the   grand  mansions  of  the  rich  and 
noble,  from  the  small  but  tidy  dwellings  of  the  artisans,  from 
the    mean    and   wretched    huts   of    the   poor— one    universal 
piercing  bitter  wail,  making  night  hideous  and  thrilling  through 
every  ear.     All  Israel  heard  it,  and  knew  that  the  time  of  their 
redemption  drew  nigh.     All  Egypt  heard  it,  and   resolved  to 
send  the  people  through  whom  they  suricred  out  of  the  land. 
Pharaoh  heard  it,  and  proceeded  to  "  thrust  Israel  out."     His 
own  first-bom,  the  heir  to  his  crown,  the  Erpa  suten  sa,  or  "  Here- 
ditar>'  Crown  Prince''  was,  it  must  be  remembered,  dead.     He 
«  Stanley.  "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  12a 


Il8  MOSES. 

sent  a  message  to  Moses  and  Aaron  "  by  night,"  saying—"  Rise 
up,  and  get  you  forth  from  among  my  people,  both  ye  and  the 
children  of  Israel  ;  and  go,  serve  the  Lord,  as  ye  have  said. 
Also  take  your  flocks  and  your  herds,  as  ye  have  said,  and  be 
gone  ;  and  bless  me  also  "  (vers.  31,  32). 

It  was  an  utter  surrender,  a  yielding  up  of  everything.  The 
long  struggle  had  terminated  in  the  complete  triumph  of 
Moses.  Pharaoh  yielded  all  that  had  been  ever  asked,  and 
added  the  self-imposed  humiliation  of  craving  the  blessing  on 
him  of  the  two  brothers,  whom  for  nearly  a  year  he  had  op- 
posed, vexed,  thwarted,  harassed,  and  insulted.  "  Bless  me 
also."  It  showed  an  entire  distrust  of  his  own  priesthood  and 
of  his  own  deities,  when  the  Pharaoh  submitted  to  ask  humbly 
of  the  priests  of  an  alien  god,  that  before  quitting  his  country 
they  would  condescend  to  give  him  their  blessing.  For  the 
moment,  at  any  rate,  the  Pharaoh's  pride  was  utterly  bowed 
down — he  trailed  his  regal  garments  in  the  dust — he  sub- 
ordinated himself  and  the  throne  of  his  ancestors  and  pre- 
decessors for  forty  generations  to  a  couple  of  Hebrews,  his  own 
slaves,  to  whom  ten  months  before  he  had  wholly  refused  to 
listen  (Kxod.  v.  1-4). 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   PASSAGE  OF  THE  RED   SEA. 

The  gathering— The  number  that  came  together— The  halt  at  Succoth— 
Change  in  the  direction  of  the  march— Encampment  at  Migdol— Peril 
of  the  position  and  faith  of  Moses— Regret  of  Pharaoh- His  pursuit 
of  Israel— Terror  of  the  Israelites— Movement  of  the  Pillar  of  the 
Cloud— Passage  of  the  sea  by  Israel-The  Egyptians  pursue- Their 
difficulties— Destruction  of  the  entire  army— Completeness  of  the 
deliverance— Credit  which  attaches  to  Moses  in  respect  of  it— Moses' 
Song  of  Triumph. 

The  Israelites  set  out  at  early  dawn  on  the  fifteenth  of  Nisan. 
Moses  had  no  need  to  give  any  signal,  or  to  send  his  orders 
by  messengers  ;  for  by  fixing  the  Passover  Feast  for  a  definite 
day,  and  requiring  that  after  eating  it  none  should  go  forth 
"  until  the  morning  "  (Exod.  xii.  22),  he  had  made  all  acquainted 
with  the  day  and  hour  of  departure  ;  he  had  also  caused  all  to 
be  prepared  for  setting  forth  ;  and,  if  any  had  been  inclined  to 
linger,  the  Egyptians  themselves  would  not  have  allowed  it  ; 
for*' they  "were  urgent  upon  the  people,  that  they  might  send 
them  out  of  the  land  in  haste  ;  for  they  said,  We  be  all  dead 
men"  (ver.  33).  Thus  an  almost  simultaneous  departure  was 
secured.  From  the  various  points  at  which  the  Israelites  were 
settled,  extending,  we  conceive,  from  Memphis  towards  the 
south  to  Tanis  and  Pelusium  on  the  north,  columns  went  forth 
in  orderly  array,  all  streaming  in  converging  lines  towards  one 
point,  the  place  fixed  for  the  rendezvous— the  land  of  Thukot 
or  Succoth.  The  largest  company  took  its  departure  from 
Rameses-Tanis  under  the  conduct  of  Moses  and  Aaron.  This 
company  proceeded  south-eastward,  and  would  reach  Succoth, 


I20  MOSES. 

to  the  north-west  of  Lake  Timseh,  in  about  three  marches. 
Other  companies  flowed  in  from  the  north,  the  west,  and  the 
south,  till  the  whole  people  was  gathered  together  in  one — six 
hundred  thousand  men,  according  to  the  existing  text,  together 
with  their  families. 

It  has  been  thought  by  some  that  this  number  is  a  corruption, 
or  an  exaggeration.  The  theor}^  of  a  corruption  seems  to  most 
critics  to  be  precluded  by  the  detailed  statements  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Book  of  Numbers,  where  the  exact  number  of  each 
tribe  is  given,  and  the  sum  total  of  the  adult  males  reckoned  at 
603,550  (Numb.  i.  46).  Exaggeration  is  precluded,  if  we  admit 
the  number  to  belong  to  the  original  document,  not  merely  by 
the  theory  of  inspiration,  but  by  the  entire  character  of  Moses, 
and  by  the  absence  of  any  motive  for  such  misrepresentation. 
The  fewer  that  the  Israelites  had  been,  the  greater  the  glory 
that  would  have  attached  to  their  defying  and  baffling  the 
mighty  nation  of  the  Egyptians.  Consequently,  the  more 
candid  of  modern  critics,  as  Ewald,  Dean  Stanley,  Kalisch,  and 
Kurtz,  take  no  exception  to  the  number  given  in  the  text  of 
Exodus,  but  base  upon  it  a  calculation  that  the  entire  body  of 
emigrants  must  have  somewhat  exceeded  two  millions.  No 
doubt,  as  Dean  Stanley  says,^  "  It  is  difficult  for  us  to  conceive 
the  migration  of  a  whole  nation "  under  the  circumstances 
narrated.  But,  as  he  also  notes,  we  have  an  illustration  of  its 
possibility  even  in  the  history  of  the  last  century,  which  records 
the  sudden  departure,  under  cover  of  a  single  night,  of  a  whole 
nomadic  people — 400,000  Tartars — who  withdrew  themselves 
from  Russia  and  made  their  way  over  several  thousand  miles 
of  steppe  from  the  banks  of  the  Wolga  to  the  confines  of  the 
Chinese  Empire.^  And  the  great  caravans  of  pilgrims,  which 
even  now  traverse  the  East,  without  confusion  or  disorder,  give 
something  like  a  picture,  on  a  small  scale,  of  the  movements 
of  such  a  host  as  that  led  forth  by  Moses.  They  are  mar- 
shalled and  arranged  by  the  caravan-leader— each  company 
knows  its  place — they  encamp  and  break  up  from  their  en- 
campments silently  and  in  an  orderly  way  ;  they  have  each 
their  train  of  animals ;  they  traverse  long  distances  in  a  fairly 
compact  body — once  started  they  pursue  their  way  with  a 
regularity  and  an  absence  of  confusion,  that  leaves  little  to  be 

'  ''Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  voi.  i.  p.  124. 
*  Bell's  "  History  of  Russia,"  vol.  ii.  appendix  c. 


THE   PASSAGE   OF  THE   RED   SEA.  121 

desired — and  they  usually  accomplish  their  journeys  in  the 
time  prescribed,  without  serious  loss,  except  perhaps  of  the 
animals. 

The  rendezvous,  and  first  resting-place  of  the  host  at  Suc- 
coth,  seems  to  have  been  in  a  bosky  region,  where  were  found 
tamarisk,  and  sycomore,  and  palm,  so  that  they  were  able  to 
rest  and  recruit  their  strength  in  "  booths  "  or  leafy  huts,  which 
afforded  shelter  from  the  sun's  heat  by  day  and  from  the  cold 
dews  of  night.  They  were  nearly  at  the  edge  of  the  cultivated 
ground  ;  they  were  perhaps  inclined  to  linger  before  confronting 
the  hardships  of  the  actual  desert.  But  their  energetic  leader 
would  not  suffer  them  to  rest.  The  order  speedily  went  forth, 
that  the  host  was  to  resuine  its  march,  and  to  follow  the  course 
indicated  by  a  "  pillar  of  cloud,"  which  moved  miraculously  in 
front  of  them  during  the  day,  and  on  its  stopping  pointed  out 
where  they  were  to  rest  at  night.  From  Succoth  the  course 
taken  seems  to  have  been  towards  the  north-east.  In  this 
direction  lay  the  route  ordinarily  traversed  by  Egyptian  armies 
and  caravans,  when  they  proceeded  from  Egypt  into  Syria,  the 
line  running  first  south  of  Lake  Serbonis,  and  then  along  the 
coast  by  Raphia  and  Rhinocolura  to  Gaza  and  Ashdod.  The 
family  of  Jacob  had  probably  travelled  to  Egypt  along  this 
route,  and  their  descendants  deemed  that  they  were  now  about 
to  retrace  it.  But  God  had  determined  otherwise.  God  knew 
that  the  undisciplined  and  unarmed  mass  of  slaves,  which  he 
was  leading  out  of  Egypt,  was  quite  unfit  to  contend  against 
the  warlike  nation  of  the  Philistines,  and  had  it  in  his  designs 
to  train  them  and  win  them  gradually,  during  a  long  term  of 
years,  to  military  discipline  and  martial  virtue.  Ere  long, 
therefore,  he  changed  their  course,  causing  them  to  make  a 
sudden  turn  (Exod.  xiv.  2)  to  the  south,  and  to  proceed  in  that 
direction  for  several  marches,  finally  encamping  before  Pi- 
hahiroth,  between  Migdol  and  the  Sea,  over  against  Baal- 
Zephon. 

It  has  been  thought  that  these  names  point  to  a  northern 
rather  than  to  a  southern  locality,  and  proposed  to  find  them  all 
in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Serbonis — that  famed  "  Serbonian  bog" 
which  has  more  than  once  proved  fatal  to  armies.  But  the 
specious  arguments  employed  by  the  author  of  this  theory 
never  had  power  to  seduce  very  many,  and  the  question  raised 
by  them  may  be  said  to  have  been   finally  set  at  rest  by  the 


122  MOSES. 

labours  of  Ebers,  Greville  Chester,  and  Dr.  Trumball.  It  is 
understood  that  the  great  geographer,  who  originally  broached 
the  theory,  is  no  longer  inclined  to  maintain  it,  or  at  any  rate 
does  not  now  press  it  as  anything  more  than  a  theory.  The 
old  belief  has  consequently  re-asserted  itself;  and  the  move- 
ment of  the  Israelites  from  their  second  halting-place,  Etham, 
may  be  regarded  as  almost  certainly  southward,  along  the 
western  edge  of  the  Bitter  Lakes  to  the  vicinity  of  Suez.  Migdol 
may  be  placed  at  the  modern  Muktala  (which  is  the  old  word 
slightly  changed  in  the  vocalization),  Pi-hahiroth  at  Ajrood, 
and  Baal-Zephon  on  the  flanks  of  Mount  Attakah.  Here,  in 
this  C7(l-de-sac,  with  a  desert  on  one  side  of  them,  the  Red  Sea 
on  the  other,  and  the  impassable  mountain  chain  of  the  Jebel 
Attakah  in  the  front,  the  host  of  Israel  took  up  its  position,  as 
commanded,  about  five  or  six  days  after  it  had  set  forth. 

The  position  was  an  extraordinary  one,  which  any  leader 
of  ordinary  capacity  would  have  avoided,  and  which,  unless 
divinely  commanded,  Moses  would  certainly  never  have 
occupied.  There  was  no  natural  egress  from  it,  except  by 
turning  round  and  retracing  one's  steps.  That  egress  might 
easily  be  blocked.  Never  was  faith  more  conspicuously  shown, 
than  when  the  Hebrew  leader,  trusting  in  God's  power  to  de- 
liver, took  his  people  calmly  into  a  position  of  such  peril.  But 
Moses  "knew  in  whom  he  had  believed."  His  was  that  per- 
fect, undoubting,  unquestioning  trust,  which  never  fails,  never 
wavers  ;  God's  word  was  passed  for  Israel's  deliverance  ;  that 
word  was  sure  ;  how  the  deliverance  was  to  be  effected  it  was 
for  God  to  determine  ;  Moses  felt  that  he  had  only  to  accept 
God's  way.  He  must,  more  or  less,  have  expected  Pharaoh's 
coming,  since  he  had  been  apprised  of  his  feelings  concerning 
the  Israelites,  and  warned  that  he  was  following  on  their  foot- 
steps (vers.  3,  4).  But  he  did  not  allow  himself  to  be  troubled. 
He  "  put  his  trust  in  God,  and  did  not  fear  what  flesh  could  do 
unto  him."  He  knew  that  "  they  which  were  with  him  were 
more  than  they  which  were  against  him."  In  God  was  his 
hope;  he  knew  that  He  who  keepeth  Israel  "fainteth  not, 
neither  is  weary  " — "  slumbers  not  nor  sleeps." 

Meanwhile  the  Pharaoh  had  recovered  from  his  first  shock 
of  alarm.  No  more  deaths  had  followed  those  of  the  one 
terrible  night.  The  pestilence,  as  he  no  doubt  thought  it,  was 
stayed.      Perhaps,  his  priests  persuaded   him   that   they   had 


THE   PASSAGE   OF  THE   RED   SEA.  1 23 

Stayed  it  by  their  prayers  and  sacrifices,  and  that  he  had  now 
nothing  to  fear.     Moreover,  the  lapse  of  time  naturally  blunted 
his  sorrow  and  lessened  his  dread.      He  had  lost  his  first-born 
son  ;  but  he  had,    at   least,  one  other  son,  probably  several  : 
and  the  death  of  the  Erpa  suten  sa  threatened  no  danger  to 
the  succession.     Thus  he   was  free  from  any  immediate  per- 
sonal anxiety  ;  and,  naturally,  his  thoughts  reverted  into  their 
accustomed  channel.      For  months  he  had  been  resolving  with 
himself  that  he  would  not  lose  the  services  of  his  half-million 
labourers— nothing  should  induce  him  to  consent  to  it.      But 
now  he   had  consented,  and  he  was  losing  them.     Israel  had 
quitted  their  abodes,  which  stood  empty;  whole  tracts  of  land 
were  left  nearly  bare  of  inhabitants  ;  the  labours  in  the  brick- 
fields had  ceased  ;  the  works  which  he  had  been  carrying  on 
were  interrupted.      Would  it  be  possible  ever  to  resume  them  t 
Common  sense  had  told  him  all  along,  that,  if  the  Israelites 
once  went  forth  beyond  the  borders  of  Egypt,  they  would  never 
return  thither.      And  now  he  would  remember  that  Moses  had 
never  pledged  himself  to  a  return.      And  the  circumstances 
of  his  departure  were  such   as   to   make  a   voluntary   return 
almost  inconceivable.     He  ^and  His  people  had  been  "  thrust 
out."     They  had  been  bidden  to  quit,  told—"  Rise  up,  get  you 
forth,  go— take  your  flocks  and  your  herds,  and  be  gone  "  (Exod. 
xii.  31,  32).     Parting  gifts  had  been  given  them,  and  they  had 
gone  forth  enriched  with  all  the  wealth  of  Egypt.     They  had 
taken  with  them  their  wives,  their  children,  their  cattle,  their 
beasts,  the  best  of  their  furniture,  their  tools  and  implements. 
What  was   there  to  induce  them  even  to  think  of  returning.? 
As  Pharaoh  reflected  on  all  that,  the  idea  occurred  to  him, 
that,  after  all,  the  flight  might  perhaps  be  stopped.     He  and 
his  people  were  at  one  on  the  subject.    They  too  had  repented, 
and  had  begun  to  ask  themselves— "Why  have  we  done  this, 
that  we  have  let   Israel  go  from  serving  us?"  (Exod.  xiv.   5) 
They  were  full  of  regret  ;  they  feared  lest  their  own  burdens 
might  be  increased  ;    they  were  willing  to  abet  their  king  in 
any  attempt  that  he  should  make  to  stop  the  exodus,  and  recall 
the  fugitives. 

When  such  was  the  position  of  affairs,  intelligence  reached 
the  king,  that,  instead  of  quitting  his  land  at  Etham,  and  there 
entering  the  wilderness,  when  they  stood  upon  its  verge,  the 
Israelites  had  made  a  retrograde  movement,  had  edged  off  from 


1 24  MOSES. 

the  wilderness,  clung  to  the  cultivated  soil,  which  gave  susten- 
ance to  their  flocks  and  herds,  and  proceeded  southwards  along 
the  eastern  frontier  of  Egypt,  still  keeping  within  the  border- 
line, till   they  had  occupied  a  position  from  which  it  was  not 
easy  to  see  how  they  could  extricate  themselves.     The  wilder- 
ness ''  shut  them  in  "  on  one  side  (ver.  3),  the  Red  Sea  upon  the 
other  ;  the  Jebel  Attakah   blocked   up    further  passage   to   the 
south.     They   seemed    to   him   "  entangled   in   the   land " — so 
situated  that,  if  he  marched  against  them,  they  could  not  escape, 
4)ut  must  submit  on  any  terms  that  he  chose  to  offer  them.     He 
therefore  hastily  collected  such  forces  as  were  within  reach,  and, 
following  up  the  line  of  the  Israelite  retreat,  came  upon  the  host 
still   encamped   "  by  the  sea,  beside   Pi-hahiroth,  before    Baal- 
Zephon"  (ver.    9).       "The   Israelites    were   encamped   on    the 
western  shore  of  the  Red  Sea,  when  suddenly  a  cry  of  alarm 
ran  through  the  v^st  multitude.     Over  the  ridges  of  the  desert 
hills  were  seen  the  well-known  horses,  the  terrible  chariots  of 
the    Egyptian  host.     Pharaoh  had  pursued   after  the  children 
of  Israel,  and  they  were  sore  afraid."  ^     Pharaoh  had  gathered 
together  six  hundred  of  his  best  chariots,  a  force  which  constituted 
the  very  elite  of  his  army  :  with  these  were  united  a  large  body 
of  the  ordinary  class  of  chariots,  and  a  considerable  force  of  foot. 
It    is  doubtful  whether  he  was   accompanied   by  any  cavalry. 
The"  horses"  and  "  horsemen,'' or  "riders,"  of  Exodus    xiv. 
and  XV.  are  probably  the  chariot  horses  and  the  riders  in  the 
chariots,  not  cavalry  soldiers  mounted  on  the  backs  of  steeds.^ 
The  Egyptians    scarcely  used  cavalry  at  this  period.     But  the 
array,  whatever  it  may  have  been,  was  sufficient  ;  it  was  felt  to 
be   irresistible.      Utter  destruction    was    expected.     "  Because 
there   were    no   graves   in  Egypt,  hast  thou  taken  us    away  to 
die  in  the   wilderness  ? "    said   the    spokesman    of  the  host  to 
Moses  (ver.  11) — "Wherefore  hast  thou  thus  dealt  with  us,  to 
carry  us  forth  out  of  Egypt  ?  " 

It  was  indeed  a  fearful  situation,  humanly  speaking.  On 
the  one  side  was  an  unarmed  and  undisciplined  host — men, 
women,  and  children,  cattle,  baggage  animals  intermixed — wholly 
unprepared  for  war,  ignorant  of  it,  without  arms,  without  train- 

*  Stanley,  "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  127  ;  Philo,  "  Vit. 
Mosis,"  i.  30. 

*  See  Hengstenberg,   "  ^gypten   und   Mose,"  pp.    127-129;    Denison, 
*'  History  of  Cavalry,"  pp.  7,  8  ;  "  Pulpit  Commentary,"  vol.  ii.  p.  321. 


THE    PASSAGE   OF  THE   RED    SEA.  I25 

ing,  without  discipline.  On  the  other  side  were  the  trained 
bands,  the  veteran  troops,  which  the  great  Ramesses  had  so 
often  led  to  victory,  and  which  had  recently  confronted  and 
destroyed  the  hosts  of  Marmaiu,  son  of  Deid,whohad  threatened 
Egypt  with  conquest.  Let  but  Pharaoh  give  the  word,  and 
launch  his  armed  force  against  the  unarmed  multitude,  and  how 
could  these  latter  escape  being  slaughtered  like  sheep,  falling 
in  heaps  upon  heaps  under  the  swords,  and  the  bows,  and  the 
spears,  and  the  hoofs  of  the  horses,  and  the  chariot  wheels? 
And  this  fate  was  what  the  Israelites  fully  expected  (ver.  12). 
But  Moses  had  no  such  fear.  In  bold  strong  words  he  addressed 
the  multitude,  and  quieted  it.  "  Fear  ye  not,"  he  said  ;  "  stand 
still,  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord,  which  He  will  show  to 
you  to-day ;  for  the  Egyptians  whom  ye  have  seen  to-day,  ye 
shall  see  them  again  no  more  for  ever.  The  Lord  shall  fight 
for  you  and  ye  shall  hold  your  peace"  (vers.  13.  14).  Moses 
did  not  even  yet  know  what  the  manner  of  the  deliverance 
would  be,  whether  hail  would  fall  and  destroy  the  Egyptian 
host,  or  the  earth  gape  and  swallow  them  up,  or  a  pestilence 
fall  upon  them  and  lay  them  dead  in  their  tents  during  the  night  ; 
but  he  was  confident  that,  in  one  way  or  another,  Israel  would 
be  delivered.  Still,  as  the  peril  was  great  and  pressing,  and  only 
God  could  give  deliverance,  Moses,  having  comforted  and  en- 
couraged the  people,  himself  turned  to  God,  and  "  cried  to 
Him"  (ver.  15) — cried  to  Him  from  the  depths  of  his  soul, 
beseeching  His  interference.  And  the  cry  was  promptly 
answered.  The  mode  of  the  deliverance  was  revealed.  Im- 
mediate safety  was  secured  to  the  panic-stricken  Israelites  by  a 
sudden  movement  of  the  pillar  of  the  cloud  ;  and  the  way 
whereby  they  were  to  make  their  escape  was  declared  in  the 
plainest  words. 

The  Egyptians  had  arrived  on  the  ridges  of  the  desert  hills 
about  sundown,  after  a  long  and  hasty  march,  and  had  then 
encamped  (ver.  20).  Their  prey  was  in  their  sight,  and  appar- 
ently could  not  escape  them.  Israel's  camp  lay  below  them, 
directly  in  their  view  ;  every  sound  that  was  made  in  it  could 
be  heard,  every  movement  seen.  By  the  passage  of  the  pillar 
of  the  cloud  from  the  head  of  the  Israelite  column  to  its  rear, 
and  its  interposition  between  the  host  of  Israel  and  the  host  of 
Egypt,  this  condition  of  things  was  wholly  changed,  A  thick 
darkness  spread  itself  in  front  of  the  Egyptian  hnes — a  dark- 


126  MOSES. 

ness  impenetrable  by  human  eye  and  felt  to  be  preternatural. 
Into  this  murky  cloud,  which  reminded  of  the  plague  recently 
endured,  no  Egyptian  would  venture  to  plunge.  Thus  Israel 
was  free  to  act  during  the  night,  as  if  there  had  been  no  enemy 
near.  And,  while  the  Egyptian  host  was  thus  plunged  in  deep 
darkness,  the  Israelites  enjoyed  a  superabundance  of  light.  The 
cloud  turned  to  them  its  "  silver  lining,"  and  shone  with  a  lustre 
that  changed  night  into  broad  day.  The  orders  which  Moses 
gave  were  easily  executed.  Divinely  instructed  (vers.  15-18), 
he  commanded  the  Israelites  to  form  in  column,  facing  a  par- 
ticular portion  of  the  shore,  to  load  their  beasts,  bring  together 
their  cattle,  and  have  everything  in  readiness  for  a  start.  Then 
he  stood  at  the  head  of  the  column,  and  stretched  out  his  hand 
over  the  sea.  At  once  an  east,  or  south-east,  wind  arose,  and 
drove  the  upper  water  of  the  shallow  bay  that  lay  before  him 
towards  the  north-west,  while  probably  ^  a  strong  ebb-tide  set 
in  at  the  same  time  and  drew  the  lower  water  southwards,  so 
that  the  bed  of  the  sea  was  for  a  considerable  space  laid  bare. 
A  sort  of  broad  causeway,  guarded  by  water  upon  either  side, 
was  formed,  and  upon  this  the  column  advanced,  the  pillar  of 
the  cloud  still  lending  them  its  brilliant  light  and  clearly  show- 
ing them  their  path.  The  distance  to  be  traversed  may  not 
have  been  more  than  a  mile,  and  the  entire  column  may  easily 
have  accomplished  the  passage  in  five  or  six  hours.  As  the 
last  Israelites  entered  the  sea-bed,  the  pillar  of  the  cloud  with- 
drew itself  from  the  shore  and  followed  up  the  retiring  column, 
protecting  it  like  a  rearguard.  Then  the  Egyptians  began  to 
see  what  had  happened.  Israel  had  quitted  its  camping-ground, 
had  entered  the  sea-bed,  and  was  traversing  it — their  prey  was 
on  the  point  of  escaping  them.  The  sight  woke  in  them  a 
burning  anger,  and  an  intense  longing  for  revenge.  It  was 
no  longer  vexation  at  the  loss  of  so  many  and  such  useful 
labourers,  and  the  desire  of  recovering  them,  that  formed  their 
animating  motive,  but  sheer  rage  and  malice,  with  a  certain 
mixture  of  cupidity.  "  The  enemy  said,  I  will  pursue,  I  will 
overtake,  I  will  divide  the  spoil  ;  my  lust  shall  be  satisfied  upon 
them  ;  I    will  draw  my  sword  ;  my  hand  shall  destroy  them " 

^  The  people  of  Memphis  had  a  tradition  to  this  effect.  They  said,  that 
Moses,  being  well  acquainted  with  the  district,  watched  the  ebb  of  the  tide, 
and  so  led  the  people  across  the  dry  bed  of  the  sea.  (Artapan.  ap.  Alex. 
Polyhist.  Fr.  14.) 


THE   PASSAGE  OF  THE   RED   SEA.  12/ 

(Exod.  XV.  9).  Without  waiting  for  orders,  as  far  as  appears, 
they  rushed  to  satiate  their  lust  of  carnage  and  of  spoil.  "The 
Egyptians  pursued  and  went  in  after  them  to  the  midst  of  the 
sea,  even  all  Pharaoh's  horses,  his  chariots,  and  his  riders" 
(Exod.  xiv.  23).  The  soft  sand  and  ooze  of  the  sea-bed  was 
unsuited  for  the  passage  of  chariots  ;  the  wheels  sank  into  it  up 
to  their  axles,  and  were  in  consequence  clogged,'  and  "  made 
to  go  heavily."  In  addition  to  this,  "  the  Lord  looked  unto  the 
host  of  the  Egyptians  through  the  pillar  of  the  cloud  and  of  fire, 
and  troubled  the  host  of  the  Egyptians"  (ver.  24).  As  Josephus 
explains,''  "  Showers  of  rain  came  down  from  the  sky,  and  dread- 
ful thunders  and  lightning,  with  flashes  of  fire  ;  thunderbolts 
were  also  darted  upon  them  ;  nor  was  there  anything  wont  to 
be  sent  by  God  upon  men  as  indications  of  His  wrath,  which 
did  not  happen  upon  this  occasion."  A  Psalmist  thus  describes 
the  event — ''  The  clouds  poured  out  water  ;  the  skies  sent  out 
a  sound  ;  Thine  arrows  also  went  abroad.  The  voice  of  Thy 
thunder  was  in  the  heaven  ;  the  lightnings  lightened  the  world  ; 
the  earth  trembled  and  shook.  Thy  way  is  in  the  sea,  and  Thy 
path  in  the  great  waters  ;  and  Thy  footsteps  are  not  known. 
Thou  leddest  Thy  people  like  sheep  by  the  hand  of  Moses  and 
Aaron  "(Ps.  Ixxvii.  17-20). 

The  result  was,  that  the  Egyptian  host  never  came  in  contact 
with  the  Israelites.  Before  they  could  do  so,  God  gave  a  com- 
mand to  Moses  to  "  stretch  out  his  hand  over  the  sea  "  a  second 
time,  "  that  the  waters  might  come  again  upon  the  Egyptians, 
upon  their  chariots,  and  upon  their  riders  "  (ver.  26).  Moses 
obeyed,  and  "the  waters  returned."  From  the  northern  end  of 
the  bay,  the  waters  held  there  by  the  "  strong  east  {z'.e.,  south- 
east) wind  "  came  back  with  a  rush  so  soon  as  the  wind  lulled  ; 
from  the  south  the  flood  tide  rushed  furiously  in.  Those  who 
know  the  danger  of  crossing  estuaries  (e.^.,  Morecombe  Bay) 
under  an  advancing  tide,  and  how  easily  travellers  are  under 
such  circumstances  lost,  will  at  least  partially  apprehend  the 
peril  of  the  situation.  Here,  however,  water  threatened  o;i  both 
sides;  the  hungry  waves  rushed  in  upon  either  flank,  surged, 
boiled,  united  their  seething  waters,  and  soon  went  over  the 
heads  of  the  host.  Encumbered  with  their  heavy  armour,  the 
Egyptian  warriors    "sank   like   lead"  (Exod.    xv.    10)    in    the 

'  See  the  Septuagint  version  of  Exod.  xiv.  25. 
•  "  Ant.  Jud."  ii.  16,  \  3. 


1 28  MOSES. 

angry  flood — went  to  the  bottom  "  as  a  stone'*  (ver.  5).  The 
horses,  plunging,  rearing,  mad  with  fear,  struggled  wildly,  but 
had  to  succumb  ;  the  chariots  stuck  fast  in  the  wet  sand.  In 
vain  the  Egyptians  "  fled  against  "  (Exod.  xiv.  27)  the  ad- 
vancing tide,  when  they  first  saw  it  coming  ;  tried  to  race  it,  and 
to  get  to  shore  before  it  was  upon  them.  The  surge  was  far 
swifter  than  they.  Probably  the  struggle  to  escape  did  not 
occupy  half  an  hour.  Before  that  space  of  time  had  elapsed 
"the  waters  covered  the  chariots,  and  the  riders,  and  all  the  host 
of  Pharaoh  that  came  into  the  sea  after  them  ;  there  remained 
not  so  much  as  one  of  them  *'  when  morning  fully  broke  (ver. 
28).  Later  in  the  day  a  ghastly  mass  of  floating  corpses  was 
borne  in  by  the  waves  and  cast  upon  the  Asiatic  coast ;  and 
Israel  took  its  last  look  upon  the  Egyptians  lying  "  dead  upon 
the  sea-shore  "  (ver,  30}. 

Mighty,  marvellous,  and  most  complete  was  the  deliverance. 
The  army  that  had  pursued  Israel  was  utterly  destroyed.  The 
Pharaoh  had  either  perished,  or  was  a  disgraced  and  awe- 
struck fugitive,  never  likely  to  lift  a  hand  against  Israel  again. 
The  whole  Egyptian  military  force  must,  when  news  reached  it 
of  what  had  happened,  have  become  utterly  demoralized.  Israel 
had  stepped  from  a  position  of  imminent  peril  to  one  of  absolute 
securi'y,  so  far  as  Egypt  was  concerned.  They  had  passed  from 
Africa  into  Asia,  from  the  Dark  Continent  into  the  region  of 
Light,  the  Land  of  the  Rising  Sun,  the  "  Land  of  Promise." 
Old  things  were  passed  away — all  things  were  become  new  with 
them.  "  Behind  the  African  hills,  which  rose  beyond  the  Dead 
Sea,  lay  the  strange  land  of  their  exile  and  bondage — the  land 
of  Egypt,  with  its  mighty  river,  its  immense  buildings,  its 
monster-worship,  its  grinding  tyranny,  its  over-grown  civilization. 
This  they  had  left  to  revisit  no  more  ;  the  Red  Sea  flowed  be- 
tween them  ;  '  the  Egyptians  whom  they  saw  yesterday  they 
will  now  see  no  more  again  for  ever.'  And  before  them 
stretched  the  level  plains  of  the  Arabian  desert,  the  desert  where 
their  fathers  and  their  kindred  had  wandered  in  former  times, 
where  their  great  leader  had  fed  the  flocks  of  Jethro,  through 
which  they  must  advance  onwards  till  they  reached  the  Land  of 
Promise.  Further,  this  change  of  local  situation  was  at  once 
a  change  of  moral  condition.  From  slaves  they  had  become 
free  ;  from  an  oppressed  tribe  they  had  become  an  independent 
nation.     It  is  their  deliverance  from  slavery.     It  is  the  earliest 


THE    PASSAGE   OF   THE    REDSEA.  I29 

recorded  instance  of  a  great  national  emancipation."'  Israel 
had  burst  its  bondage,  had  passed  through  its  first  great  trial  in 
the  furnace  of  affliction,  and  entered  on  a  new  phase  of  its 
existence.  It  was  free  ;  it  was  under  direct  Divine  guidance  ; 
to  a  certain  extent,  it  knew  Jehovah  ;  untold  possibilities  of 
advance,  progress,  and  usefulness  to  the  world  lay  before  it  ;  in 
a  certain  sense  it  might  be  said  to  have  "  passed  from  death 
unto  life,"  from  the  power  of  Satan  to  the  free  service  of  God. 

The  biographer  naturally  asks,  before  turning  his  eye  from 
this  great  crisis,  What  was  Moses'  share  in  producing  the  re- 
sult Thow  far  may  it  be  considered  to  have  been  brought  about, 
not  only  tliroui^h,  but  by,  him  ?     If  the  crisis  be  compared  with 
those  which  ordinarily  determine  the  history  of  nations,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  part  which  was  played  in  it  by  any 
human  agency  whatever,  must  be  pronounced  to  be  small.  Moses 
had  not  to  design,  or  to  plan,  or  to  contrive,  or  to  persuade,  or  to 
undertake  a  campaign,  or  to  display  any  extraordinary  activity, 
or  energy,  or  practical  power.     The  deliverance  was  of  God. 
"  Stand^still,  and  see  the  salvation  of  Jehovah,"  was  at  once  its 
watchword  (Exod.  xiv.  13)  and  its  principle.     The  object  of  the 
whole  series  of  transactions,  was  that  God's  power  might  be 
shown  forth,  and  His  name  declared  throughout  all  the  earth 
(Exod.  ix.  16).  It  was  intended  that  the  Israelites  should  be  com- 
pelled to  look  to  Him,  and  not  to  themselves,  nor  to  any  "arm 
of  flesh,"  as  the  source  of  their  triumph.     To  Moses,  therefore, 
a  much  smaller  proportion  of  the  results  achieved  under  his 
leadership  is  to  be  attributed,  than  we  rightly  assign  to  such 
active  and  stirring  chiefs,  the  prime  movers  in   all  that  they 
effected,  as  Joshua,  and  Gideon,  and  Samson,  and  David,  and 
Judas  Maccabceus.     In  the  main,  he  was  a  passive  instrument 
m  God's  hand  for  working  out  His  purposes.     Yet,  still,  he  was 
not  merely  this.     His  consciousness  was  not  absorbed,  his  in- 
dividuality was  not  swallowed  up.     Through  the  whole  struggle 
with  his  proud  and  powerful  adversary  he  showed  unwavering 
firmness,  coolness,  and  strength  of  mind.     In  the  final  scene, 
the  great  climax  and  crisis,  he  displayed  intense  faith,  profound 
confidence  in  God.  and  a  contempt  of  danger  rarely  exceeded 
by  any  military  hero.     The  dogged  perseverance,  which,  how- 
ever difficult  his  task  appeared,  "  bated  no  jot  of  heart  or  hope ;" 
the  boldness,  which  bearded  the  Pharaoh  in  the  midst  of  all 
'  Stanley,  "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  128. 

10 


1 30  MOSES. 

his  courtiers  and  lords  ;  the  patience,  which  endured  all,  and 
never  let  itself  be  driven  to  any  false  step  ;  and  the  firm  faith, 
which  nothing  could  shake— were  great  qualities,  and  largely 
conduced  towards  the  result,  which  God  miraculously  brought 
about.  God  works  through  men  as  instruments ;  but  He 
fashions  His  instruments  with  extreme  care,  and  fits  each  of 
them  m-^rvellously  for  the  work  which  He  has  in  hand.  "  Moses 
was  a  man  of  marvellous  gifts,  raised  up  by  Divine  Providence 
for  the  highest  purpose  to  which  man  could  be  called."  ^  In 
the  crisis  at  the  Red  Sea,  as  in  the  previous  struggle,  these  gifts 
were  brought  into  play  ;  and  we  shall  do  less  than  justice  to 
Moses  if  we  do  not  allow  that  they  had  no  small  share  in 
producing  the  result. 

On  finding  himself,  with  his  people,  safe  on  the  Arabian 
shore  of  the  Red  Sea,  the  first  instinct  of  Moses  was  thanks- 
giving. As  in  the  Christian  world  each  national  escape  or 
victory  is  celebrated  by  the  solemn  singing  of  a  Te  Deuui^  so 
was  the  first  deliverance  of  the  Jewish  Church  commemorated 
by  a  song  of  triumph.  Moses  composed,  and  the  minstrels  of 
Israel  sang,  on  the  day  following  that  wonderful  escape,  the 
magnificent  psalm,  which  is  at  once  "  the  first  burst  of  Hebrew 
national  poesy,"  ^  and  the  pattern  Thanksgiving  Hymn  for  the 
Church  of  God  through  all  ages.  The  psalm  was  sung  by 
"  Moses  and  the  children  of  Israel "  (Exod.  xv.  i)  ;  Miriam  and 
her  maidens,  accompanying  themselves  with  instruments  of 
music,  sang  the  chorus.     The  song  was  as  follows  : — 

.    I. 

Sing  unto  the  Lord,  for  He  hath  triumphed  gloriously  ; 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  He  thrown  into  the  sea. 

My  strength  and  song  is  J  AH  ; 
And  He  is  to  me  for  salvation. 
He  is  my  God,  and  I  will  praise  Him; 
My  father's  God,  and  I  will  exalt  Him. 

Jehovah  is  a  man  of  war  ; 

Jehovah  is  His  name. 

Pharaoh's  chariots  and  his  host  hath  He  cast  into  the  sea  ; 

And  his  chosen  captains  are  sunk  in  the  Red  Sea. 

The  depths  covered  them  ;  they  sank  to  the  bottom  as  a  stone. 


«  Stanley  in  Smith's  "  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  vol.  ii.  p.  428. 
■  Stanley,   "Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  132. 


THE    PASSAGE   OF   THE    RED    SEA.  I31 

Chorus  h'  Min'iiin  and  her  tnaidcns. 
Sincf  iinto  tlie  Lord,  for  1  Ic  halli  triumphed  gloriously  ; 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  He  thrown  into  the  sea. 

II. 
Thy  right  hand,  Jehovah,  is  glorious  in  power  ; 
Thy  right  hand,  Jehovah,  dasheth  in  pieces  the  enemy. 
In  the  greatness  of  Thy  height.  Thou  overthrowest  them  that  rise  up 

against  Thee  ; 
Thou  sendest  forth  Thy  wrath,  which  consumeth  them  as  stubble. 

With  the  blast  of  Thy  nostrils  the  waters  were  piled  up  : 

The  floods  stood  uji  as  an  heap  ; 

The  depths  were  congealed  in  the  heart  of  the  sea. 

The  enemy  said — '  I  will  pursue,  overtake,  divide  the  spoil  ; 
My  lust  shall  be  satisfied  upon  them  ; 
I  will  draw  my  sword  ;  my  hand  shall  destroy  them.' 
Thou  didst  blow  with  Thy  wind  ;  the  sea  covered  them  ; 
They  sank  like  lead  in  the  mighty  waters. 

[Chorus  as  before.) 

III. 
Who  is  like  unto  Thee,  Jehovah,  among  the  gods? 
Who  is  like  unto  Thee,  glorious  in  holiness, 
Fearful  in  praises,  doing  wonders? 

Thou  stretchedst  out  Thine  hand,  and  the  earth  swallowed  them. 
[Chorus  as  befot-e.) 

IV. 
Thou,  in   Thy   mercy,  didst   lead   forth   the   people   which   Thou  hast 

redeemed  ; 
Thou  didst  guide  them  in  Thy  strength  to  Thy  holy  habitation. 
The  peoples  have  heard  ;  they  tremble  ; 
Pangs  have  taken  hold  on  the  dwellers  in  Palestine. 
Then  were  the  dukes  of  Edom  amazed  ; 

The  mighty  men  of  Moab,  trembling,  took  hold  upon  them  ; 
All  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan  are  melted  away. 
Terror  and  dread  shall  fall  upon  them  ; 
By  the  greatness  of  Thine  arm  shall  they  be  still  as  a  stone 
Till  Thy  people  pass  over,  O  Jehovah, 
Till  the  people  pass  over  which  Thou  hast  redeemed. 
Thou  shalt  bring  them  in  and  plant  them  in  the  mountains  of  Thine 

inheritance  ; 
The  place,  O  Jehovah,  which  Tliou  hast  made  for  Thee  to  dwell  in — 
The  sanctuary,  O  Jehovah,  which  Thy  hands  have  established. 
Jehovah  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever. 

[Chorus  as  before. ) 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE   STRUGGLE  WITH  AMALEK. 

The  Sinaitic  Peninsula — Tt^  geography— Its  population  in  the  early  Egyp- 
tian period — Its  early  history— The  population  in  Moses'  time— The 
Keniles — The  Amalekites — Natural  hostility  of  the  latter  to  Israel — 
Their  guerilla  warfare — The  great  fight  at  Rephiclim — Part  taken  by 
Moses — Results  of  the  victory,  and  commemoration  of  it. 

The  Sinaitic  Peninsula,  on  which  the  Israelites  entered  after 
quitting  Egypt,  is  a  region  of  a  very  marked  and  peculiar  cha- 
racter. Projecting,  like  a  huge  wedge,  into  the  Red  Sea,  with 
a  direction  nearly  due  north  and  south,  and  splitting  the  upper 
Red  Sea  into  two  long  tongues  or  arms,  it  is  itself  projected 
into  by  "  a  vast  limestone  plateau  of  irregular  surface,"  '  which 
occupies  two-thirds  of  its  area,  and  is  sharply  divided  from  the 
more  southe  n  portion  of  the  peninsula  by  a  continuous  line  of 
cliff,  or  escarpment,  almost  perpendicular  on  the  side  which 
fronts  the  south-west,  steep  and  difficult,  but  still  with  a  more 
gradual  fall,  on  the  side  which  faces  south-east.  The  general 
elevation  of  the  plateau  above  the  sea  level  is  two  thousand  feet. 
It  is  a  region  nearly  without  water.  Here  and  there  in  the 
wadys  a  little  may  be  obtained  by  scraping  holes  in  the  ground, 
and  baling  up  with  the  hand  a  discoloured  liquid,  which,  when 
allowed  to  settle,  produces  a  cake  of  mud  about  half  its  own 
bulk.  The  ground  is  hard,  and  is  for  the  most  part  covered 
with  a  sort  of  carpet  of  flints,  worn  and  polished  by  the  fine  de- 
tritus oi  sand  which  is  constantly  blown  upon  them,  till  they 
resemble  pieces  of  black  glass.  There  are  said  to  be  two  trees 
only  in  the  entire  country,  one  at  Nakhl  and  the  other  in  the 
^  "  Our  Work  in  Palestine,"  p.  275. 


THE   STRUGGLE   WITH   AMALEK.  1 33 

Wady  Fahdi.  The  tract,  however,  produces  a  coarse  grass, 
which  is  dry  aqd  dead  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  but 
bursts  into  fresh  life  at  the  approach  of  spring.  A  certain 
amount  of  green  vegetation  is  also  to  be  found  in  most  of  the 
wadys  during  the  whole  of  the  year. 

Outside  this  plateau,  called  El  Tij,  to  the  south,  the  south- 
west, and  the  south-east,  is  a  region  of  a  markedly  different 
character.  The  plateau,  though  undulating,  is  a  dull,  tame, 
uninteresting  country.  There  is  nothing  to  notice  in  it.  The 
journal  of  a  recent  traveller  in  the  regie  n  contains,  for  one  day, 
only  the  following  entry  :  "  Monday. — Walked  six  l.ours  ;  saw 
two  beetles  and  a  crow."  The  outer  region,  on  the  contrary, 
is  one  of  the  strangest  and  most  striking  on  which  the  eye  of 
man  ever  gazed.  It  is  a  tangled  mass  of  mountains  inextricably 
confused,  separated  from  the  plateau  of  El  Tij  b>-  a  narrow  belt  of 
sand,  called  towards  the  west  the  Debbet-er-Ranileh,  and  towards 
the  east  the  Wady  El  Ain,  composed  of  sandstone,  porphyry, 
and  granite  rocks,  gradually  rising  in  height  towards  the  south- 
west and  south,  and  culminating  in  the  lofty  summit  of  Um- 
Shomer,  south  of  Sinai,  which  attains  an  elevation  of  9,300  feet. 
Between  the  mountains,  which  everywhere  almost  jostle  one 
another,  lie  threads  of  wadys,  only  rarely  expanding  into  plains 
of  even  a  mile  m  width,  but  watered  to  some  extent  by  springs, 
and  covered  with  a  thin  veil  of  vegetation.  The  most  strikin"- 
feature  of  the  mountain  sides  is  their  bareness  ;  yet  even  they 
are  not  bare  like  the  Tij.  Almost  ever}'  mountain  nourishes 
some  vegetation,  and  generally  a  vegetation  peculiar  to  itself. 
Um-Shomer  is  named  from  the  fennel  {sJioiner)^  which  once 
undoubtedly  characterized  it;  Ras  Sufsafch  from  the  willows 
which  still  cling  to  its  sides  ;  Serbal  from  the  myrrh  [ser)  v/hich 
"creeps  over  its  ledges  to  the  very  summit."  The  most  probable 
origin,  even  of  the  name  Sinai,  is  to  be  found  in  the  sanch^  or 
acacia,  with  which  it  once  abounded.  One  wady  is  named 
"the  Father  of  fig-trees''  (Wady  Abu-IIamad),  from  its  pro- 
ducing that  fruit  ;  another  "  Wady  Sidri,"  from  its  bushes  of 
wild  thorn  ;  another  Wady  Sayal,  from  its  acacias  ;  another 
Wady  Tayibeh,  from  the  "goodly"  water  and  vegetation  which 
it  contains.'  Compared  with  the  nortliern,  the  southern  region 
maybe  regarded  as  a  "region  of  springs."  "These  springs, 
whose  sources  are  for  the  most  part  high  up  in  the  mountain 
'  Stanley,  "Sinai  and  Palestine,"  p.  18. 


134  MOSES. 

clefts,  occasionally  send  down  into  the  wadys  rills  of  water  which, 
however  scanty — however  little  deserving  even  of  the  name 
of  brooks — yet  become  immediately  the  nucleus  of  whatever 
vegetation  the  desert  produces.  Often  their  course  can  be  traced, 
not  by  visible  water,  but  by  a  track  of  moss  here,  a  fringe  of 
rushes  there,  a  solitary  palm,  a  group  of  acacias — which  at  once 
denote  that  an  unseen  life  is  at  work.  Wherever  these  springs 
are  found,  there,  we  cannot  doubt,  must  always  have  been  the 
resort  of  the  wanderers  in  the  desert ;  and  they  occur  at  such 
frequent  intervals  that,  after  leaving  Suez,  there  is  at  least  one 
such  spot  in  each  successive  day's  journey.  In  two  of  the  great 
wadys  which  lead  from  the  first  beginnings  of  the  Sinaitic  range  to 
the  Gulf  of  Suez — Ghurundel,  and  Useit  with  its  continuation  of 
the  Wady  Tayibeh — such  tracts  of  vegetation  are  to  be  found  in 
considerable  luxuriance.  In  a  still  greater  degree  is  this  the  case 
in  all  the  various  wadys  leading  down  from  the  Sinaitic  range  to 
the  Gulf  of  Akabah — as  the  Wady  El  Ain,  the  Wady  Samghy,  and 
the  Wady  Kyd — in  all  of  which  this  union  of  vegetation  with  the 
fantastic  scenery  of  the  desolate  mountains  presents  a  combina- 
tion as  beautiful  as  it  is  extraordinary.  In  three  spots,  how- 
ever, in  the  desert,  and  in  three  only,  is  this  vegetation  brought 
by  the  concurrence  of  the  general  configuration  of  the  country 
to  a  still  higher  pitch.  By  far  the  most  remarkable  collection 
of  springs  is  that  which  renders  the  cluster  of  Gebel  Mousa  the 
chief  resort  of  the  Bedouin  tribes  during  the  summer  heats. 
Four  abundant  sources  in  the  mountains  immediately  above  the 
Convent  of  St.  Catherine,  must  always  have  made  that  region 
one  of  the  most  frequented  of  the  desert.  But  there  are  two 
other  of  such  spots,  of  considerable  importance.  One  is  the 
palm-grove  of  El  Wady  at  Tor—  the  seaport  half-way  down  the 
Gulf  of  Suez,  which  receives  all  the  waters  which  flow  down 
from  the  higher  range  of  Sinai  to  the  sea.  The  other,  and  the 
more  important,  is  the  Wady  Feiran,  high  up  in  the  table-land 
of  Sinai  itself;  but  apparently  receiving  all  the  waters  which, 
from  the  springs  and  torrents  of  the  central  cluster  of  Mount 
Sinai,  flow  through  the  Wady  Esh-Sheykh  into  this  basin,  where 
their  further  exit  is  forbidden  by  the  rising  gi ound  in  the  W'ady 
Feiran.  These  two  green  spots  are  the  oases  of  Sinai,  and, 
with  the  nucleus  of  the  springs  in  Gebel  jMousa,  form  the  three 
chief  centres  of  vegetation  in  the  peninsula."  ^ 

^  Stanley,    "Sinai  and  Palestine,"  pp.  19,  20. 


THE   STRUGGLE  WITH   AMALEK.  I35 

The  Sinaitic  Peninsula  had  been  inhabited  from  a  very  re- 
mote date  by  various  wandering  tribes,  who  found  a  scanty  yet 
sufficient  pasture  for  their  flocks  in  its  wadys  and  oases.  The 
Egyptians  knew  these  tribes  anciently  as  Mentu  or  Sakti,  later 
on  as  Shasu.  They  came  into  contact  with  them  partly  as  in- 
vaders of  their  territoiy,  and  occupiers  of  certain  districts  which 
yielded  copper  and  turquoises  ;  partly  as  subject  to  their  incur- 
sions. Shasu  from  time  to  time  ravished  the  border-lands  of 
Egypt,  making  raids  for  the  capture  of  cattle  and  slaves,  and 
then  retreating  rapidly  into  the  wilderness.  Mentu  and  Sakti 
were  attacked  in  their  own  fastnesses,  in  the  district  between 
the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez  and  Mount  Scrbal,  and  forced  into 
a  species  of  subjection.  It  was  not  the  object,  however,  of 
Egypt  at  any  time  to  occupy  the  country,  but  only  to  maintain 
permanent  settlements  at  two  posts,  not  very  distant  the  one 
from  the  other,  and  to  have  one  secure  line  of  communication 
with  them.  The  posts  were  at  Sarabit-el-Khadim,  on  the  edge 
of  the  Debbet-er-Ramleh,  in  lat.  29°  2',  long.  33"  25',  nearly  ; 
and  in  the  Wady  Magharah,  further  to  the  south,  in  lat.  28''  53', 
Jong-  33"  22',  nearly.  Mines  of  copper  and  turquoise  were 
worked  in  both  localities,  and  in  each  place  an  Egyptian  gar- 
rison was  maintained  for  the  protection  of  the  miners.  A  strong 
fortress  was  built  of  large  blocks  of  stone  to  accommodate  the 
troops,  with  a  deep  well  inside  to  secure  them  an  unfailing  sup- 
ply of  water  ;  and  in  the  vicinity  were  erected  temples  to  some 
of  the  principal  Egyptian  divinities,  that  the  expatriated  soldiers 
might  have  the  enjoyment  of  their  accustomed  worship.  The 
district  was  first  occupied  in  the  time  of  the  fourth  dynasty,  or 
before  the  date  of  Abraham  ;  and  the  founder  of  that  dynasty, 
together  with  his  successor,  the  founder  of  the  Great  Pyramid, 
cut  in  the  soft  sandstone  of  the  Wady  Magharah  effigies  of 
themselves,  which  remain  to  the  present  day,  and  are  among 
the  very  earliest  of  the  historical  monuments  that  have  come 
down  to  our  time.  It  is  not  altogether  certain  that  the  posses- 
sion of  the  copper  mines  by  the  Egyptians  was  continuous  from 
the  time  of  their  first  occupation  to  that  of  the  nineteenth 
dynasty  ;  but,  on  the  whole,  probability  is  in  favour  of  their 
having  held  the  mines  with  little  or  no  interruption  from  the 
conquest  of  Sneferu  in  the  fourth  dynasty,  to  the  reign  of 
Ramesses  III.  in  the  twentieth.  At  any  rate,  such  a  monarch 
as  Ramesses   II.   is   sure  to  have  held  them,  and  we   cannot 


136  MOSES. 

doubt  that  they  passed  from  him  to  his  son.  Thus,  at  the  time 
of  the  Exodus,  there  was  an  Egyptian  element  in  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Sinaitic  peninsula  which,  however,  was  confined 
within  narrow  limits,  and  did  not  aspire  to  any  general  authority 
even  over  the  western  part  of  the  country. 

The  peninsula  was  mainly  peopled  at  the  time  by  two  other 
quite  different  races.  These  were  the  Kenites  and  the  Amale- 
kites.  The  Kenites,  a  branch  of  the  people  of  Midian  (who 
were  widely  spread  over  South-western  Asia,  occupying  both 
sides  of  the  Gulf  of  Akabah,  and  reaching  thence  to  the  Dead 
Sea  and  the  country  east  of  the  Jordan),  were  chiefly  settled  in 
the  eastern  portion  of  the  peninsula,  on  the  coast  of  the  sea, 
and  in  the  many  fertile  wadys  which  pierce  the  coast  range 
along  its  entire  length.  They  claimed  descent  from  Abraham, 
and  were  extremely  well  disposed  towards  the  Hebrews,  whom 
they  regarded  as  a  kindred  race,  and  with  whom  they  had 
recently  become  still  more  closely  connected  by  the  marriage  of 
Moses  with  Zipporah,  daughter  of  Reuel  (or  Raguel),  one  of 
their  chiefs,  A  portion  of  the  great  mountain  cluster  in  which 
the  peninsula  terminates  towards  the  south  was  included  in  the 
country  which  they  considered  to  be  theirs  ;  but  the  extreme 
limit  of  this  tract  to  the  westward  was  probably  the  region  im- 
mediately around  Sinai.  The  Kenites  were  a  pastoral  and  a 
peaceful  people,  who  make  but  little  show  in  history.  They 
could  bring  to  the  help  of  an  ally  no  important  military  aid,  but 
their  countenance  and  support  were  no  doubt  of  important  ser- 
vice to  the  Israelites,  when  they  had  made  their  way  into  the 
Kenite  country. 

The  Amalekites  are  derived  by  some  from  Amalek,  one  of  the 
grandsons  of  Esau  (Gen.  xxxvi.  12).  But  there  is  nothing  in 
Scripture  to  support  this  view  ;  and  the  fact  that,  though  ene- 
mies of  Israel,  they  are  never  taxed  with  unnatural  conduct,  as 
the  Edomites  are,  is  strongly  against  the  connection.  Arabian 
tradition  makes  them  a  pure  Arab  race  from  the  shores  of  the 
Persian  Gulf,  and  represents  them  as  driven  thence  into  the 
desert,  at  a  very  early  date,  by  the  advancing  Assyrian  (/.^., 
Babylonian)  power.  This  account  of  their  antiquity  harmonizes 
with  the  mention  of  them  as  a  nation  in  the  earlier  life  of  Abra- 
ham (Gen.  xiv.  7),  before  Amalek  can  have  been  born,  and  with 
the  early  date  at  which  they  achieved  greatness.  "  Amalek  was 
the  first  of  the  nations"  (Numb.  xxiv.  20)  in  the  view  of  Balak 


THE   STRUGGLE  WITH   AMALEK.  1 37 

the  son  of  Beor.  It  had  at  one  time  held  Palestine,  and  left  its 
name  in  the  "mount  of  the  Amalekites,"  near  Pirathon,  in  the 
hmdof  Ephraim  (Judg.  xii.  15).  It  had  then  entrenched  itself 
strongly  in  the  Negeb,  or  south  country,  which  it  held  till  the 
times  of  Saul  and  David.  From  the  Negeb  it  extended  its  sway 
over  the  adjoining  tract  of  the  Tij,  and  from  the  Tij  it  pene- 
trated into  the  Sinaitic  mountain  cluster,  and  became  the  domi- 
nant power  in  the  western  portion  of  the  region.  Widely  spread 
over  the  Negeb  are  "the  primeval  stone  remains  of  a  pre- 
historic race,  and  the  Hazc7'oth^  or  fenced  enclosures  of  a  pas- 
toral people,"  '  presumably  the  Amalekites,  who  dwelt  here  at 
the  time  of  the  Exodus  (Numb.  xiii.  29).  All  over  the  desert  of 
El  Tij  are  similar  constructions— circular  camps,  enclosed  by 
walls  now  about  three  feet  high,  composed  of  large  boulders 
packed  together  with  much  care.  Within  the  outer  ring  are  a 
number  of  smaller  circles  communicating  one  with  another. 
The  remains  closely  resemble  the  camping-grounds  of  the 
modern  Morocco  Arabs  ;  and  here,  again,  we  have  probably  the 
Hazeroth  of  the  Amalekite  people.  Spread  over  the  Negeb  and 
the  Tij,  they  naturally  pressed  on  into  the  more  desirable 
mountain  region  of  the  extreme  south,  and  made  themselves 
masters  of  the  entire  tract  between  the  Red  Sea  and  Sinai, 
most  valuable  to  them  on  account  of  its  water  supply,  its  large 
patches  of  perennial  verdure,  its  palm  groves  (Exod.  xv.  27),  and 
its  other  leafy  regions.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  anciently 
the  entire  peninsula  was  much  better  watered  than  at  present, 
and  that  especially  this  was  the  case  with  the  mountain  region 
of  the  south.  "The  barrenness  of  the  peninsula,"  say  the 
officers  engaged  in  the  recent  survey,^  "is  due  to  neglect.  In 
former  times  it  was  more  richly  wooded  ;  the  wadys  were  pro- 
tected by  walls  stretching  across,  which  served  as  dams  to 
resist  the  force  of  the  rushing  waters  ;  the  mountains  were 
terraced,  and  clothed  with  gardens  and  groves.  The  fertility 
lasted  till  (comparatively)  modern  times.  The  monks — there 
was  formerly  a  large  Christian  community  in  the  peninsula — 
carried  on  the  old  traditions  of  cultivation  (traditions  perhaps 
as  old  as  the  Amalekites)  and  terraced,  protected,  and  planted. 
Then  came  the  bad  times  of  Mohammedan  rule,  which  let  in 
the  Bedouin  to  waste  and  destroy.  Then  the  protecting  walls 
across  the  wadys  were  broken  down  ;  the  green  terraces  along 
'   "Our  Work  in  Palestine,"  p.  276.  =  Ibid.  p.  270. 


138  MOSES. 

their  sides  were  destroyed  ;  the  trees  were  cut  down,  or  carried 
away  by  the  winter  torrents."  Yet  even  now,  it  is  noted,  "  de- 
spite of  neglect  and  desolation,  there  is  still  fertility  to  be  found 
in  the  peninsula  of  Sinai.  There  are  no  rivers,  yet  many  a 
pleasant  little  rivulet,  fringed  with  verdure,  may  be  met  with 
here  and  there,  especially  in  the  romantic  glens  of  the  granite 
distiict.  At  Wadys  Nasb  and  Ghurundel  are  perennial,  though 
not  continuous  streams,  and  large  tracts  of  vegetation."  * 

It  is  evident  that  to  the  Amalekites  the  entrance  of  the 
Israelites  into  the  peninsula,  in  the  guise  of  settlers,  with  their 
wives  and  children  and  their  large  flocks  and  herds,  must  have 
been  exceedingly  distasteful.  Especially  must  it  have  angered 
them,  that  the  intruding  tribe,  instead  of  taking  the  direct  route 
through  the  Tij  to  Canaan,  whither  they  professed  to  be  bound, 
deviated  wholly  from  that  line  of  march,  and  turning  southw^ards, 
showed  the  intention  of,  so  far  as  possible,  avoiding  the  bare 
plateau  of  the  Tij,  and  pasturing  its  flocks  and  herds  in  the 
"  romantic  glens  "  of  the  south,  which  formed  their  own  summer 
camping  ground.  If  the  month  was  April,  as  is  probable,  they 
would  have  been  absent  from  their  mountain  pastures,  feeding 
their  flocks  on  the  rich  herbage,  which  even  the  very  desert 
produces  under  the  influence  of  the  spring  rains,  when  they  are 
abundant.  A  portion  would  have  been  scattered  over  the  Tij, 
while  some  may  have  been  feeding  their  sheep  and  goats  on 
the  flat  coast  tracts  of  El  Kaa  and  El  Murkhah.  The  Israelites 
thus  did  not  fall  in  with  them  when  they  first  entered  the  moun- 
tain cfaintry,  but  were  able  themselves  to  enjoy  unmolested  the 
rich  pasturages  and  palm  groves  of  the  more  western  region, 
about  Wadys  Ghurundel,  Useit,  and  Tayibeh,  one  of  the  most 
charming  regions  of  the  peninsula.  But  their  presence  was  ere 
long  reported  to  the  Amaltkite  chiefs,  and  orders  went  forth 
from  head-quarters,  that  their  m.arch  should  be  watched,  and  that 
they  should  be,  as  much  as  possible,  harassed  and  annoyed, 
whithersoever  they  betook  themselves.  The  Israelites  probably 
greatly  outnumbered  the  Amalekites  ;  but  they  were  unaccus- 
tomed to  warfare,  and  poorly  armed,  a  small  proportion  of  them 
only  having  weapons,  which  they  had  either  brought  with  ihem  out 
of  Egypt,  or  obtained  from  the  bodies  of  those  drowned  Egyp- 
tians, who  were  cast  up  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez 

*  "Our  Work  in  Palestine,"  p.  271. 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH   AMALEK.  1 39 

after  Pharaoh's  host  had  been  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea  (Exod. 
xiv.  30).  The  Amalckites  were,  on  the  contrary,  excessively 
warHke,  well  armed,  and  fairly  disciplined,  having  been  long 
accustomed  to  hold  their  own  against  the  surrounding  nations, 
with  whom  they  had  frequent  collisions.  Thus  the  two  enemies 
were  not,  upon  the  whole,  ill-matched. 

The    Amalekites   commenced  the  contest  by  hanging  upon 
the  rear  of  the  Israelite  host,  cutting  off  its  baggage  and  its 
stragglers,  and  inflicting  as  much  damage  as  was  possible  by 
a  kind  of  guerilla  warfare  (Deut.  xxv.  18).     Their  active  bands 
followed  up  the  loose  column  of   Israelites  as  it   crossed  the 
hills  or  wound    through  the  wadys   of  the    mountain   region, 
smiting   the    hindmost,    threatening,    obstructing,  plundering. 
Meanwhile,  the  chiefs  of  the  nation  were  busy  collecting  its 
warriors    from    the    more    distant    portions    of    its    territory,  ^ 
from  Petra  and  Gebalend,' from  Kadesh  or  En-Mishpat,  from  ' 
the  wadys  of  the  Tij,  and  the  highlands  of  the  Negeb.  A  strong 
force  was  gathered  together,  and  took  up  a  position  at  a  place 
called  Rephidim,  situate  probably  in  the  Wady  Feiran,  where 
it  resolved  to  fight  in  defence  of  its  pastures.     Moses  had  no 
choice  but  to  accept  the  challenge.  Distrusting  his  own  capacity 
for  command  at  the  age  of  eighty-one,  he  selected  from   the 
younger  men  a  warrior  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  by  name  Oshea 
or  Joshua,  and  committing  to  him  the  task  of  conducting  the 
combat,  reserved  for  himself  the  duty  of  watching  its  progress 
and  aiding  his  countr^unen  by  his  prayers.  Never  to  be  forgotten 
is  that  sublime  figure  of  the  aged  patriarch,  lifting  his  hands  to 
heaven  in  the  Oriental  attitude  of  prayer,  seeking,  as  it  were,  to 
draw  down  blessings  from  above.    The  battle  rages  in  the  valley 
beneath  ;  now  one  side,  now  the  other,  has  the  better  of  it. 
Moses  observes  that,  while  he  can  hold  his  hands  aloft,  success 
attends  his  own  countrymen,  but  when  through  faintness  and 
weariness  he  lets  them  drop,  Amalek  recovers  itself  and  begins 
to  have  the  upper  hand.     He  has  with  him  his  two  most  natural 
supports,  Aaron,  his  elder  brother,  and  Hur,  who,  according  to 
Josephus,^  was  the  husband  of  Miriam,   his  sister,  and  these 
chieftains  come  to  his  relief.     Setting  him  on  a  stone  seat,  and 
standing  one  at  either  side  of  him,  they  prop  up  the  weary  arms, 
and  hold  them  steady  in  an  erect  position  through  the  long  hours 

'  So  Josephua,  "  Ant.  Jud."  ii.  2,  {  i.  ^  Ibid.  ii.  2,  ;  .\. 


I40  MOSES. 

of  that  eventful  day,  until  the  sun  goes  down  (Exod.  xvii,  12). 
By  that  time  Ainalek  was  completely  discomfited.  Their  best 
warriors  were  slain  with  the  sword  ;  and  the  slaughter  would 
have  been  general,  had  not  night  put  a  stop  to  the  combat.  The 
remnant  fled,  leaving  their  camp  standing,  which  was  at  once 
taken  and  plundered. 

The  Jewish  historian  of  later  times  descants  upon  both  the 
material  and  the  moral  effects  of  the  victory.  The  material  effects 
were  twofold.  In  the  first  place,  there  was  a  great  accession  of 
wealth  to  the  Israelites,  Amalek  having  taken  the  field,  as 
Orientalsso  continually  do,  laden  with  gold  and  silver  ornaments, 
and  their  camp  being  found  full  of  rich  stuffs,  of  vessels  for  the 
table  both  in  bronze  and  in  the  precious  metals,  and  of  other 
valuable  equipment.  Secondly,  the  Israelites  became  possessed, 
by  their  victory,  of  a  large  stock  both  of  arms  and  armour,  in 
which  they  had  previously  been  very  deficient.  The  armour 
was  stripped  from  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  the  shields  and  coats 
of  mail,  thrown  away  as  impediments  to  their  flight  by  those 
who  had  escaped  from  the  field,  were  collected  ;  and  from  these 
two  sources  a  large  number  of  the  Israelites  were  equipped  so 
as  to  leave  little  to  be  desired.  "  The  Israelite  heavy-armed 
infantry,"  says  Josephus,  "was  now  considerable."  A  solidity 
and  firmness  was  given  to  the  migration  which  it  had  not  pos- 
sessed previously  ;  its  confidence  in  itself  was  much  increased; 
and  it  had  found  a  military  commander,  now  in  the  full  vigour 
of  manhood,  in  whom  under  any  circumstances  of  danger  it 
could  repose  perfect  confidence. 

But  the  most  important  consequence  of  the  victory,  was  the 
//  impression  which  it  made  upon  the  Amalekites  themselves, 
and  upon  the  other  neighbouring  nations.  Until  the  valour  of 
Israel  was  tested,  and  the  metal  whereof  it  was  composed  put 
to  the  proof,  none  could  say  whether  a  new  nation  had  appeared 
in  the  world,  which  would  have  to  be  reckoned  with  by  the  pre- 
viously existing  powers,  or  whether  a  mere  rabble  of  worthless 
slaves  had  escaped  from  the  yoke  of  their  masters,  to  melt  away, 
perish,  and  disappear  from  the  earth  in  the  course  of  one  or  two 
decades.  The  deliverance  at  the  Red  Sea  had  in  no  way  tested 
the  stuff  whereof  Israel  was  made.  It  was  a  pure  and  absolute 
/  deliverance  by  miracle,  and  was  effected  without  the  two  hosts 
of  Israel  and  Egypt  coming  into  collision.  Now,  a  collision 
had   taken   place  between   Israel  and  one  of  the  well-known 


THE   STRUGGLE  WITH   AMALEK.  M^ 

world  powers— a  power  which  by  its  previous  history  had  vindi- 
cated to  itself  a  very  important  place  among  the  nations  (Numb.  «- 
xxiv.  20).     A  fair  trial  of  strength  had  taken  place;  there  had 
been  no  miraculous  interference,  unless  we  include  in  miracle  the 
unseen  might  of  effectual  fervent  prayer,  which  is,  in  fact,  a  nor-'^ 
mal  element  in  the  constitution  of  things.     After  a  long  struggle, 
which  had  lasted  during  a  whole  day,  Israel  had  emerged  the 
victor  ;  Amalek  was  completely  defeated  ;  after  suffering  great 
losses  the  Amalekite  host  had  fled  away  in  disorder  from  the 
field  of  battle.  The  lesson  was  primarily  taken  to  heart  by  Amalek 
itself,  which  thenceforth  made  way  for  Israel,  withdrew  from  all 
contact,   retreated  and  kept  aloof,  until  the  time  came  when 
Israel  took  the  aggressive,  sought  out  Amalek  in  the  Negeb, 
and  attempted  the  conquest  of  that  old  seat  of  Amalekite  power  *' 
(Numb.    xiv.   40-44),  without    Divine  authority,  when  they  in 
their  turn  experienced  a  defeat  (ver.  45).     Meanwhile,  a  truce 
prevailed  between  the  two  peoples  ;  Israel  had  made  itself  re- 
spected ;  and  Amalek,  instead  of  provoking,  shrank  from  further 
hostile  encounter. 

There  was  a  further  effect  produced  upon  other  neighbouring 
nations.     The  prowess  of  Israel  induced  the  Kenites  to  draw^ 
closer  the  bonds  which  united  them  with  the  Hebrews.     The 
other  minor  tribes  of  the  peninsula,  and  the  peoples  upon  its 
borders— Edomites,  Moabites,  Amorites,  Philistines— were  more 
or  less  impressed  by  what  had  occurred,  and  followed  the  Ama-  . 
lekites  in  a  policy  of  abstention.  Israel  appeared  to  all  of  them 
too  formidable  to  be  meddled  with,  and  was  allowed  to  pursue 
its  course   unmolested  for  a  considerable  time.     As  Josephus 
says—"  The  victory  of  Rephidim  was  not  merely  of  immediate, 
but  of  much  prospective  advantage  to  the  people  of  Israel  ;  for 
they  not  subjected  the  bodies,  but  the  spirits  of  their  adversaries, 
and  their  defeat  of  the  Amalekites  rendered  them  an  object  of 
fear  to  all  the  nations  round  about."  ' 

Moses,  however,  viewed  the  victory  less  as  the  result  of  Israeli- 
tish  prowess  than  as  God's  answer  to  his  own  prolonged  and 
earnest  prayer.  Josephus  says  that  he  greatly  praised  the  conduct 
of  Joshua,  and  bestowed  various  honours  and  rewards  on  those 
who  had  distinguished  themselves  in  the  fight;  but  the  sacred  nar- 
rative, which  we  owe  probably  to  his  own  pen,  omits  all  reference 

«  "  Ant.  Jud."  ii.  2,  ^  4. 


142  MOSES. 

to  the  human  instruments  of  the  success,  and  tells  of  his  offering 
no  acknowledgments  on  the  occasion  to  any  but  God.  His 
memorial  of  the  victory  was  an  altar,  built  probably  on  the  spot 
where  he  had  stood  and  sate,  whereto  he  gave  the  name  of 
"  Jehovah-nissi,"  or  "The  Lord  is  my  banner" — under  Him 
I  go  out  to  battle,  through  Him  alone  do  I  subdue  my 
enemies. 


CHAPTER  XIL 

MOSES   AT  SINAI. 


Sinai  •  its  geograpl.ical  features-God's  manifestation  of  Himself  to  Israel 
there  directly,  through  the  elders,  and  through  Moses- Abid>ng  proof  of 
the  last-named  manifestation  w  the  light  tl.at  shone  from  NIoses  coun- 
tenance-Purposeof  the  manifestations-The  legislation  of  Sma,,  not 
from  but  onlv  i/nvu^h  Moses- Individuality  of  Moses  strongly  marked 
in  his  conduc't  at  Sinai-His  reverence-His  care  for  the  peuple-H.s 
indignation  at  liicir  apostasy-His  severe  punishment  of  it-His  subse- 
quent intercession  for  his  people-His  stupendous  act  of  seJ-devot.on 
and  its  consequences,  to  the  people,  to  himself-Exaltat.on  of  the  cha- 
racter of  Moses  after  Sinai. 

FROM  Repbidim  the  people  of  Israel,  guided  by  the  pillar  of 
the  cloud,  proceeded  to  Sinai.     "  Onwards  and  upwards  after 
their  long  halt,  exulting  in  their  first  victory,  they  advanced 
deeper  and  deeper  into  the  mountain  ranges,  they  knew  not 
whither       .      Onwards    thev  went,  and  the  mountains  closed 
around  them,  upwards  through  winding  valley,  and  under  high 
cliff  and  over  rugged  pass,  and  through  gigantic  forms,  on  which 
the  marks  of  creation  even  now  seem  fresh  and  powerful  ;  and  at 
last  through  all  the  different  valleys,  the  whole  body  of  the 
people  were  assembled.     On  their  right  hand  and  on  their  left 
rose  Ion-  successions  of  lofty  rocks,  forming  a  vast  avenue,  like 
the  approaches  which  they  had  seen  leading  to  the  Egyptian 
temples  between  colossal  figures  of  men  and  of  gods.  At  the  end 
of  this  broad  avenue,  rising  immediately  out  of  the  level  plain, 
towered  the  massive  cliffs  of  Sinai,  like  the  huge  altar  of  some 
natural  temple  ;  encircled  by  peaks  of  every  shape  and  height 
the  natural  pyramids  of  the  desert      In  this   sanctuary,  and 


144  MOSES. 

secluded  from  all  earthly  things,  raised  high  above  even  the 
wilderness  itself — arrived,  as  it  must  have  seemed  to  them,  at  the 
ver\-  end  of  the  world — they  waited  for  the  Revelation  of  God."  ^ 
The  general  consensus  of  recent  travellers,  now  that  the  whole 
region  has  been  thoroughly  explored,  fixes  the  place  of  gathering 
in  the  plain  now  called  Er-Rahah,  at  the  foot  of  the  precipitous 
granite  rock  known  ?s  the  Ras  Sufsafeh.  The  plain  is  two  miles 
long  and  half  a  mile  wide,  nearly  flat,  and  dotted  over  with 
tamarisk  bushes.  The  mountains  which  enclose  it  have  for  the 
most  part  sloping  sides,  and  form  a  sort  of  natural  amphitheatre. 
"That  such  a  plain  should  exist  at  all  in  such  a  place,''  says  Dean 
Stanley,  "  is  so  remarkable  a  coincidence  with  the  sacred  narra- 
tive, as  to  furnish  a  strong  internal  argument,  not  merely  of  its 
indentity  with  the  scene,  but  of  the  scene  itself  having  been 
described  by  an  eye-witness."  *  All  the  surroundings  are  such 
as  exactly  suit  the  narrative.  "The  awful  and  lengthened  ap- 
proach, as  to  some  natural  sanctuary^,  would  have  been  the  fittest 
preparation  for  the  coming  scene.  The  low  line  of  alluvial 
mounds  at  the  foot  of  the  clift  exatt'y  answers  to  the  'bounds' 
which  were  to  keep  the  people  off  from  '  touching  the  mount.' 
The  plain  itself  is  not  broken  and  uneven  and  narrowly  shut  in, 
like  almost  all  others  in  the  range,  but  presents  a  long  retiring 
sweep,  against  which  the  people  could  'remove  and  stand  afar 
off.'  The  cliff,  rising  like  a  huge  altar,  in  front  of  the  whole 
congregation,  and  visible  against  the  sky  in  lonely  grandeur  from 
end  to  end  of  the  whole  plain,  is  the  very  image  of  the  '  mount 
that  might  be  touched,'  and  from  which  the  voice  of  God  might 
be  heard  far  and  wide  over  the  plain  below,  widened  at  that  point 
to  its  utmost  extent  by  the  confluence  of  all  the  contiguous 
valleys.  Here,  beyond  all  other  parts  of  the  peninsula,  is  the 
adytinn,  withdrawn  as  if  in  the  '  end  of  the  world'  from  al;  the 
stir  and  confusion  of  earthly  things."^  As  an  eminent  erg  nesr 
has  observed — "  No  spot  in  the  world  can  be  pointed  out  which 
combines  in  a  more  remarkable  manner  the  conditions  of  a 
commanding  height  and  of  a  plain  in  ever)-  part  of  which  the 
sights  and  sounds  described  in  Exodus  would  reach  an  assembled 
multitude  of  more  than  two  million  souls."  ^ 

*  Stanley,  "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  pp.  149,  150. 
»  "  Sinai  and  Palestine,"  p.  42.  3  Ibid.  p.  43. 

4  Sir  Henry  James,  quoted  by  Canon  Cook  in  the  "  Speaker's  Commen- 
tary," vol.  i.  p.  442. 


MOSES  AT  SINAI.  I45 

The  heart  of  the  desert  was  reached.  The  whole  multitude, 
hitherto  scattered  in  the  many  wadys  and  over  the  broad  moun- 
tain sides,  were  collected  to  a  sin;^le  encampment,  where  they 
might  be  seen  and  impressed  at  once.  The  Eternal  was  to  be 
revealed  to  them.  It  was  to  be  impressed  upK>n  them  i  .delibly, 
that  they  were  God  s  people,  placed  in  a  relation  to  Him  that 
was  not  occupied  by  any  other  nation  upon  the  earth,  put  under 
His  direct  rule,  to  be  governed  by  laws  which  were  His  com- 
mandments and  decrees.  But  how  was  such  a  revelation  to  be 
made  ?  Ail  mankind  was,  at  this  period  of  the  world's  hi5tor>% 
so  prone  to  idolatry,  and  Israel  v*"as  so  deeply  infected  by  the 
contagion  of  Egyptian  superstition  (Josh.  xxiv.  14),  that  if 
God  had  appeared  to  them  in  any  form,  they  would  infallibly 
have  seized  upon  that  form,  have  reproduced  it,  imitated  it,  and 
made  it  an  object  of  idolatrous  veneration.  It  was  necessary 
that  they  should  have  an  absolute  conviction  of  the  presence, 
power,  might,  majesty  of  God,  and  yet  that  they  should  not  see 
Him,  should  not  have  any  form  with  which  to  connect  Him. 
The  manifestation  of  God  was  therefore  made  to  them  after  this 
fashion-  God  *' came  down  upon  Sinai  "(Exod.  xix.  20>.  On 
the  morning  of  the  third  day  after  their  arri\-al,  when  their  ex- 
pectations had  been  wrought  up  to  the  highest  pitch  by  orders 
from  Moses  to  sanctify  and  purifv*  themselves  {v^ers.  10-15), 
they  beheld,  and  lo  !  suddenly,  '^  there  were  thunders  and  light- 
nings, and  a  thick  cloud  upon  the  mount,  and  the  voice  of  a 
trumpet  exceeding  loud ;  so  that  all  the  people  that  was  in  the 
camp  trembled  "  (ver.  16)  ;  and  ^  Mount  Sinai  was  altogether 
on  a  smoke,  because  the  Lord  descended  on  it  in  fire  ;  and  the 
smoke  thereof  ascended  as  the  smoke  of  a  fomace  ;  and  the 
whole  mount  c^uaked  greatly"  (ver.  18).  Or,  as  the  scene  is 
elsewhere  described  by  Moses — "  Ye  came  near  and  stood  under 
the  mountain,  and  the  mountain  burned  Tvitk  fire  unto  tke  midst 
of  hearjen^  with  darkness,  clouds,  and  thick  darkness.  And  the 
Lord  spoke  unto  you  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire  :  ye  heard  the 
voice  of  the  words,  but  saw  no  similitude ;  only  ye  heard 
a  voice"  (DeuL  iv.  11,  12).  It  was  not  a  mere  "storm  of 
thunder  and  lightning,  whereof  Moses  took  ad\-antage  to  per- 
suade the  people  that  they  had  heard  God's  voice  "^ — it  was  not 
"  an  earthquake  with  volcanic  eruptions  ~ — it  was  not  even  these 
two  combined — it  was  a  veritable  theophany,  in  which,  amid  the 
phenomena  of  storm  and  tempest,  and  hre  and  smoke,  air' 

II 


146  MOSES. 

thick  darkness,  and  heavings  of  the  ground  as  by  an  earthquake 
shock,  first  the  loud  blast  seemingly  of  a  trumpet  sounded  long, 
commanding  attention,  and  then  a  clear,  penetrating  voice,  like 
that  of  a  man,  made  itself  heard  in  distinctly  articulated  words, 
audible  to  the  whole  multitude,  proceeding  out  of  the  midst  of 
the  fire,  and  recognized  by  the  multitude  as  superhuman,  as 
"  the  voice  of  God''  (Deut.  iv.  33). 

This  direct  manifestation  of  God  to  His  people  generally  was 
supplemented  by  a  further  manifestion,  somewhat  later,  in  which 
He  showed  Himself  to  them  more  distinctly,  bat  through  their 
representatives.  Moses  was  instructed  to  take  with  him  into 
the  Mount  his  brother  Aaron,  Aaron's  two  sons,  Nadab  and 
Abihu,  together  wath  the  seventy  elders  of  Israel,  in  order  that 
they  might  draw  more  near  to  God  than  was  permitted  to  the 
mass  of  the  people,  and  hold  closer  communion  with  Him 
(Exod.  xxiv.  i).  A  sacrificial  feast  was  celebrated,  at  which 
these  persons  were  present,  and  in  the  course  of  it  a  fresh  revela- 
tion was  made.  "They  saw  the  God  of  Israel,  and  there  was 
under  his  feet  as  it  were  a  work  of  clear  sapphire,  and  as  it  were 
the  body  of  heaven  in  his  clearness  "  (ver.  10).  These  words 
can  scarcely  mean  less,  than  that  the  elders  saw  with  their  bodily 
eyes  some  appearance  of  the  Divine  Being  who  had  summoned 
them  to  His  presence  for  the  purpose.  As  Isaiah  "  saw  the 
Lord  sitting  upon  His  throne"  (Isa.  vi.  i),  and  Ezekiel  saw 
"  the  likeness  of  a  throne,  and  upon  the  likeness  of  the  throne 
the  likeness  as  the  appearance  of  a  man  above,  upon  it " 
(Ezek.  i.  26),  so  now  the  elders  "  saw  the  God  of  Israel."'  What 
exactly  the  form  was  which  the  elders  saw,  we  are  not  told  ;  but 
as  it  had  "feet,"  it  was  probably  a  human  form.  It  may  have 
been  hazy,  indefinite,  "  too  dazzling  bright  for  mortal  eye  "  to 
rest  upon  ;  but  it  was  a  true  vision  of  God,  and  as  Keil  says, 
"  a  foretaste  of  the  blessedness  of  the  sight  of  God  in  eternity." 

And  Moses,  the  leader  of  the  nation,  in  whom  the  whole 
people  may  be  regarded  as  summed  up,  centred,  and  embodied, 
was  vouchsafed  long,  direct,  continuous,  and  most  unmistakable 
communication  with  the  Almighty,  communication  which  did 
not  rest,  like  that  of  Mahomet  and  other  fanatics,  on  his  own 
unsupported  ipse  dixit,  but  which  was  confirmed  and  attested, 
so  far  as  was  possible,  by  the  entire  people.  "  All  the  people 
saiv  the  thunderings,  and  the  lightnings,  and  the  noise  of  the 
trumpet,  and  the  mountain  smoking  ;  and  when  they  saw  it, 


MOSES   AT   SINAI.  147 

they  removed  and  stood  afar  off;  and  said  unto  Moses,  '  Speak 
thou  with  us,  and  we  will  hear  ;  but  let  not  God  speak  with  us, 
lest  we  die.  .  .  .  And  the  people  stood  afar  off,  and  Moses 
drew  near  unto  the  thick  darkness,  where  God  was "  (Exod. 
XX.  i8,  2i).  "Moses  went  up  into  the  mount,  and  a  cloud 
covered  the  mount  ;  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  al)ode  upon 
Mount  Sinai,  and  the  cloud  covered  it  six  days  ;  and  the  seventh 
day  He  called  unto  Moses  out  of  the  cloud.  And  the  sight  of 
the  glory  of  the  Lord  was  like  devouri)ig  fire  on  the  top  of  the 
mount  in  the  eyes  of  the  children  of  Israel.  And  Moses  went 
into  the  midst  of  the  cloud,  and  gat  him  up  into  the  mount  ; 
and  Moses  was  in  the  mount  forty  days  and  forty  nights  " 
(Exod.  xxiv.  15-18). 

Moreover,  the  reality  of  Moses'  admission  to  the  presence  of 
God  was  testified,  physically,  in  another  most  extraordinary 
way.  When  he  came  down  from  Mount  Sinai  the  second  time, 
"  the  skin  of  his  face  shone.  .  .  .  And  when  Aaron  and  all  the 
children  of  Israel  saw  Moses,  behold,  the  skin  of  his  face 
shone,  and  they  were  afraid  to  come  nigh  him  "  (Exod.  xxxiv. 
29,  ;^o).  As  St.  Paul  expresses  the  fact — "The  children  of 
Israel  could  not  stedfastly  behold  the  face  of  Moses  for  the 
glory  of  his  countenance"  (2  Cor.  iii.  7).  A  light,  like  that 
which  rested  on  the  face  of  our  Lord  at  the  transfiguration, 
beamed  from  the  countenance  of  the  great  leader  thenceforth, 
a  light  so  plainly  supernatural,  that  it  terrified  ordinary  men, 
and  induced  Moses  thenceforth  under  ordinary  circumstances 
to  veil  his  face  from  the  eyes  of  the  people.  None  could  doubt 
that  this  light  was  the  reflection  of  that  radiance  which  had 
streamed  on  him  day  and  night  during  his  long  conference  with 
the  Supreme  Being,  during  which  he  "with  open  face  beholding 
the  glory  of  the  Lord,  had  been  changed  into  the  same  image 
from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  spirit  of  the  Lord" 
(ver.  18). 

These  manifestations  of  Himself  by  God  to  Israel  at  Mount 
Sinai  seem  to  have  had  a  double  purpose.  Primarily,  they 
were  to  impress  on  the  people  the  reality  of  the  Divine  existence, 
the  power  and  awful  majesty  of  God,  and  His  nearness  and 
close  relation  to  themselves.  Secondarily,  they  were  to  give  the 
highest  possiiDle  sanction  to  that  Law,  or  series  of  Laws,  which 
Moses  was  commissioned  to  impose  on  them  as  of  absolute 
obligation.      A   stubborn    and    "stiff-necked"   race,   like    the 


148  MOSES. 

Hebrews,  would  never  have  accepted  any  merely  human  legis- 
lation, or  regarded  themselves  as  bound  by  it  a  moment  longer 
than  suited  their  own  convenience.  They  had  to  be  convinced 
that  all  the  laws,  all  the  statutes,  all  the  ordinances,  which  Moses 
gave  them,  were  the  laws,  statutes,  and  ordinances  of  God 
Himself.  Hence,  and  hence  alone,  the  enduringness  of  the 
Law,  which  was  regarded  as  valid  in  its  entirety  for  more  than 
fourteen  hundred  years,  and  is  still  held  to  be  obligatory  in 
many,  if  not  in  most,  particulars.  Never  was  there  a  case  in 
which  miracle  was  more  justified  by  its  results.  Assuming  the 
object  to  be  the  creation  of  a  "  peculiar  people,"  marked  out 
from  all  the  world  by  a  special  set  of  unchanging  laws,  ordi- 
nances, and  customs,  then  the  means  adopted  must  be  pro- 
nounced at  once  absolutely  effectual,  and  probably  the  only 
means  by  which  the  result  aimed  at  could  have  been  effected. 

It  does  not  belong  to  the  province  of  a  biographer  of  Moses 
to  enter  into  any  account  of  the  legislation  which  goes  by  his 
name.  Had  Moses  been  the  fount  and  origin  of  the  legislation, 
had  he  out  of  the  resources  of  his  own  mind  framed  that  won- 
derful system  which  held  the  Hebrew  nation  together  for  a 
millennium  and  a  half,  his  legislation  would  have  been  the  great 
act  of  his  life,  the  measure  of  his  intellectual  capacity,  the 
crucial  test  of  his  strength  and  weakness,  the  ultimate  ground 
on  which  would  have  rested  all  estimates  of  his  character. 
But  the  plain,  direct,  and  reiterated  statement  of  Scripture  is, 
that  in  his  legislative  capacity  he  initiated  nothing,  he  was  "  a 
mere  passive  instrument  of  the  Divine  Will."  No  doubt,  in  the 
poetical  language  of  the  Old  Testament  (Numb.  xxi.  18  ; 
Deut.  xxxiii.  21),  and  in  the  popular  language  of  both  Jews 
and  Christians,  he  is  known  as  the  Law-giver";'  but  this 
does  not  mean  that  he  was  a  "  Law-giver  "  as  Solon,  or  Lycurgus, 
or  Numa,  or  Demonax,  or  Zaleucus,  or  Justinian,  or  even 
Charlemagne;  Moses  "gave  the  Law"  (John  vii.  19)  ;  but  he 
gave  it  exactly  as  it  had  been  delivered  to  him  by  the  Almighty. 
As  the  Ten  Commandments  were  spoken  by  God  "  out  of  the 
midst  of  the  fire,  of  the  cloud,  and  of  the  thick  darkness, 
with  a  great  voice"  (Deut.  v.  22),  and  as  the  words  of  the 
original  "  Book  of  the  Covenant"  were  delivered  to  Moses  by 
God  in  the  form  in  which  he  published  them  to  the  people 
(Exod.  XX.  22),  so  every  later  ordinance  is  declared  to  have 
*  Stanley  in  Smith's  "  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  vol.  ii.  p.  428. 


MOSES   AT   SIN' A  I.  1 49 

been  from  God's  mouth,  spoken  by  God  to  Moses,  and  then 
communicated  without  change  to  the  people.  Tlie  key  to  the 
whole  Mosaic  Law  is  found  in  the  ever-recurring  formula — "Ye 
shall  observe  all  these  statutes — /  am  the  Lord.''  It  was  not 
Moses  who  determined  what  old  customs,  laws,  ceremonies, 
long  familiar  to  the  Hebrew  nation,  should  be  continued,  what 
abolished,  what  modified  or  restrained  ;  it  was  not  Moses  who 
made  the  law  of  divorce,  or  the  law  of  slavery,  or  the  laws 
relating  to  paternal  authority,  or  to  the  avenger  of  blood  ;  it 
was  not  by  Moses  that  provisions  were  taken,  if  any  provisions 
were  taken,  from  the  Egyptian  code,  or  from  the  customs  of  the 
Arabs  ;  from  first  to  last  the  legislation  was  God's  work ;  Moses 
did  nothing  else  but  promulgate  it.  We  must  not  ascribe  to 
Moses  a  tenderness  and  humanity  in  advance  of  his  age  on 
account  of  the  humane  provisions  of  the  laws  with  respect  to  the 
poor,  to  slaves,  to  kidnapping,  to  usury,  to  pledges  ;  or  blame 
him  for  what  seems  to  us  harsh  and  inequitable  in  the  laws 
respecting  divorce,  retaliation,  disrespect  to  parents,  and  the 
like.  God,  not  Moses,  was  the  author  of  each  proviso,  the  real 
legislator,  the  real  law-giver,  the  true  compiler  of  the  co.'e. 
Moses  was  but  His  mouth-piece,  an  intermediary  to  communi- 
cate God's  decrees  to  His  people. 

The  individuality  of  Moses  comes  out,  during  the  Sinaitic 
sojourn,  not  in  his  laws,  but  in  the  history  which  we  have  of  his 
acts.  First,  we  see  his  great  reverence  for  God,  and  his  tender 
care  of  his  people,  in  the  pains  taken  to  impress  on  them  the 
sanctity  of  the  Mount  while  God's  presence  was  upon  it  ;  the 
danger  of  approaching  too  near  it,  or  of  presenting  themselves 
before  God  while  there  was  attaching  to  them  any  sort  of  defile- 
ment (Exod.  xix.  14,  15,  25).  Then  we  note  the  absence  from 
his  character  of  all  jealousy  or  self-seeking  in  his  readiness  to 
share  the  honour  of  approaching  near  to  God,  first  with  Aaron, 
Nadab,  Abihu,  and  the  seventy  elders  (chap.  xxiv.  9-1 1), 
and  then  with  Joshua,  "his  minister  "  (ver.  13).  Next,  we  see 
his  temper,  judgment,  conduct,  feelings,  undergoing  suddenly 
the  severest  and  most  tremendous  test,  when,  on  his  descending 
from  Sinai,  anxious  concerning  his  people,  with  the  Two  Tables 
of  the  Law  in  his  hand,  there  breaks  upon  him  suddenly — first 
the  sound,  and  then  the  sight,  of  that  miserable  lapse  of  Israel 
into  Egyptian  grossness  and  idolatry,  which  must  always  remain 
one  of  the  most  shameful  passages  in  the  history  of  mankind, 


ISO  MOSES. 

one  of  the  most  extraordinary  apostacies  that  has  ever  been 
witnessed  in  heaven  or  earth.  While  he  has  been  absorbed  in 
the  closest  communion  with  the  One  pure,  spiritual  God,  drink- 
ing in  life  and  light  and  spirituality  from  that  Holy,Awful  Source, 
his  people  have  gone  back,  in  thought  and  word  and  act,  to  the 
materialism,  the  idol-worsiiip,  and  the  lewd  orgies,  of  which 
they  have  had  experience  in  Egypt.  Aaron,  whom  he  had  left 
to  restrain  their  waywardness  and  unruliness,  instead  of  re- 
straining them,  has  aided  and  abetted  them  in  their  sin  ;  and 
he  sees  the  whole  camp  engaged  in  a  festival  on  the  Egyptian 
model,  with  their  clothes  in  part  laid  aside  (ver.  25),  singing 
lewd  songs,  and  dancing  licentious  dances.  Under  the  strange 
and  fearful  circumstances  that  hot  temper  breaks  out  a  second 
time,  which  showed  itself  in  Egypt,  when  he  slew  the  smiter  of 
his  countryman,  and  Moses  dashes  to  the  ground  and  breaks  to 
pieces  the  Two  Tables,  written  with  the  finger  of  God,  which 
were  the  most  precious  monuments  that  the  world  contained  at 
the  time.  The  action  was  not  deliberate— it  was  momentary, 
instinctive  ;  it  sprang  from  a  fierce  and  fiery  indignation  at  the 
unworthy  conduct  of  his  nation,  who  did  not  deserve  the  precious 
gift  which  he  was  bringing  them,  and  whom  he  therefore  de- 
prived of  the  gift.  It  is  remarkable  that  Moses  is  never  blamed 
for  his  act,  and  speaks  of  it  many  years  afterwards  without  dis- 
approval (Deut.  ix.  17).  Fiery  indignation  at  sin,  springing 
as  it  does  from  a  jealousy  for  God's  honour,  is  an  emotion 
which  is  not  too  common  among  men,  and  one  which  God's 
Word  does  not  discourage. 

The  next  act  of  Moses  seems  to  have  been  to  order  the 
destruction  of  the  idol  (ver.  20),  which  was  necessarily  a  work 
of  time,  occupying  probably  several  days.  He  then  proceeded 
to  stop  the  orgy,  which,  in  spite  of  his  presence,  continued. 
The  sight  aroused  in  Moses  the  same  burning  indignation  which 
had  led  him  to  break  the  Tables.  He  must  stop  the  orgy  at  any 
cost.  Standing  therefore  in  the  gate  of  the  camp,  he  raised  aloud 
the  cry,  "  Who  is  on  the  Lord's  side  ?  Let  him  come  unto  me ,' 
(literally,  "  Who  for  Jehovah  ?  To  me")  ;  and  when  the  Levites 
who  were  within  hearing  rallied  to  his  side,  he  made  them  the 
executioners  of  a  terrible  punishment.  "  Put  every  man  his 
sword  by  his  side,"  he  said,  "  and  go  in  and  out  from  gate  to 
gate  throughout  the  camp,  and  slay  every  man  his  brother,  and 
every  man  his  companion,  and  every  man  his  neighbour.     And 


MOSES  AT   SINAI.  151 

the  children  of  Levi  did  according  to  the  word  of  Moses  ;  and 
there  fell  of  the  people  that  day  about  three  thousand  men" 
(vers.  27,  28).  Moses,  we  see,  was  no  weak  sentimentalist  ; 
he  did  not  shrink  from  measures  of  extreme  severity,  when 
severity  was  requisite.  It  was  an  awful  thing  to  have  to  put  to 
a  sudden  and  violent  death  three  thousand  men— his  own  coun- 
trymen— utterly  unprepared,  in  the  very  high  tide  of  gaiety  and 
excitement,  and  in  the  commission  of  deadly  sin,  worshipping 
an  idol  with  lascivious  songs  and  dances  ;  but  may  it  not  have 
been  a  wise  act,  and  an  act  of  mercy  ?  God  had  threatened  to 
let  loose  his  anger  upon  the  guilty  people  (ver.  10),  an  anger 
that  would  have  entirely  "  consumed "'  them,  perhaps  in  a 
moment  of  time.  Moses  turns  his  wrath  aside  by  punishing 
with  death  three  thousand  of  the  guiltiest.  He  sacrifices  3,000 
lives  ;  he  saves  nigh  upon  600,000.  He  turns  away  the  wrath 
of  God,  who  accepts  the  punishment  inflicted  as  sufficient,  at 
any  rate  for  the  time  being,  and  reserves  the  action  of  His  retri- 
butive justice  for  some  distant  day  of  visitation  (vers.  34,  35). 

When  the  execution  is  over,  when  the  swords  are  wiped  and 
returned  to  their  scabbards,  when  the  slain  are  buried  and  the 
traces  of  their  slaughter  removed,  Moses  earnestly  wrestles  with 
God  in  prayer  on  behalf  of  his  people.  He  had  prevented  tl  eir 
immediate  destruction,  but  he  requires  more — he  would  fain 
have  them  fully  and  freely  forgiven.  It  is  in  this  crisis  that  he 
performs  the  sublime  act  of  self-renunciation  and  self-devotion, 
whicli  must  always  remain  one  of  the  most  glorious  acts  of 
which  hum.inity  has  shown  itself  capable,  and  must  be  held  as 
entitling  him  to  a  high  p!ace — may  we  not  say  the  highest  place? 
— among  the  heroic  characters  of  the  world.  He  had  already, 
before  he  descended  from  Sinai,  declined  the  profiered  honour 
of  being  put  in  the  place  of  Abraham,  made  the  absolute 
progenitor  of  all  God's  people  ;  he  had  put  the  offer  from  him 
without  a  moment's  hesitation,  and  had  induced  the  Almighty 
to  change  his  purpose  (vers.  9-14)  ;  he  now  went  further — he 
offered  himself  for  his  people  !  "  '1  his  people,"  he  said,  "have 
sinned  a  great  sin — they  have  made  them  a  god  of  gold.  Yet 
now,  if  Thou  wilt  [freely]  forgive  their  sin,  well  and  good  ;  but  it 
not,  blot  ine^  I  pray  Thee, out  of  Thy  book  whicIi  1  hou  hast  lurittcfi "' 
(vers.  31,  32).  •'  Tlie  book  of  the  living"  is  that  book  (as  Keil 
notes)  which  "contains  the  list  of  the  righteous,  and  ensures  to 
those  whose  names  are  written  therein  life  before  God,  first  in 


152  MOSES. 

the  earthly  kingdom  of  God,  and  then  eternal  life  also."  Thus 
Moses  declared  his  willingness — nay,  his  wish— that  God  would 
visit  on  him  the  guilt  of  his  people,  both  in  this  world  and  the 
next  ;  so  that  He  would  thereupon  forgive  them.  "  Infinite 
things  were  to  be  hoped  for  from  God's  love;  infinite  things 
were  to  be  dreaded  from  His  anger.  .  .  Moses  was  willing 
to  die  ;  to  be  cut  off  from  covenant  hope  and  privilege  ;  to 
undergo  whatever  awful  doom  subjection  to  God's  wrath  might 
imply  ;  if  only  thereby  his  people  could  be  saved.  It  was  a 
stupendous  proposal  to  make  ;  an  extraordinary  act  of  self- 
devotion  ;  a  wondrous  exponent  of  his  patriotic  love  for  his 
people  ;  a  not  less  wondrous  recognition  of  what  was  due  to  the 
justice  of  God  ere  sin  could  be  forgiven— a  glimpse  even,  struck 
out  from  the  passionate  yearning  of  his  own  heart,  of  the  actual 
method  of  redemption.  A  type  of  Christ  has  been  seen  in  the 
youthful  Isaac  ascending  the  hill  to  be  offered  on  the  altar  by 
Abraham  his  father.  A  much  nearer  type  is  Moses,  '  setting  his 
face'  (Luke  ix.  51)  to  ascend  the  Mount,  and  bearing  in  his 
heart  this  sublime  purpose  of  devoting  himself  for  the  sins  of 
the  nation." ' 

Though  the  offer  of  Moses  could  not  be  accepted,  since  "  no 
[mere]  man  can  deliver  his  brother,  nor  make  agreement  unto 
God  for  him"  (Ps.  xlix.  7),  yet  great  benefits  flowed  from  it, 
both  to  himself  and  to  the  people.  The  people  were  not  cast 
off;  they  were  not  deserted  ;  the  Angel  of  God's  Presence  still 
continued  with  them,  and  went  with  them  throughout  their 
wanderings,  and  sustained  them  along  the  weary  way,  and 
ultimately  "  gave  them  rest"  (Exod.  xxxiii.  14)  in  the  Promised 
Land.  Moses'  spiritual  life  entered  into  a  new  stage.  He  was 
drawn  nearer  to  God  by  the  effort  which  he  had  made  ;  and  God 
in  consequence  drew  nearer  to  him.  The  self-devotion  of  Moses 
is  followed  closely  by  the  establishment  of  the  first  "  Tabernacle 
of  the  Congregation  "  (ver.  7)  beyond  the  camp,  and  in  this 
Tabernacle,  which  only  he  and  his  personal  attendant,  Joshua, 
are  privileged  to  enter,  Moses  is  admitted  to  continual  com- 
munion with  God  of  a  closer  kind  than  even  that  which  he  had 
enjoyed  upon  Mount  Sinai.  When  he  needs  to  consult  God, 
or  to  commune  with  Himx,  he  has  only  to  "go  out  unto  the 
tabernacle  ;"  as  he  enters  it,  the  pillar  of  the  cloud  quits  its 
previous  position,  whatever  that  might  be,  and  "  descends  and 
'  The  Rev.  J.  Orr,  in  "The  Pulpit  Commentary,"  Exodus,  pp.  693,  694. 


MOSES   AT   SINAI.  I  53 

Stands  at  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle,"  and  remains  there  while 
he  is  within  it.  Within,  God  "talks  with  Moses"  (vcr.  9), 
"  speaks  to  him  face  to  face,  as  a  man  speaketh  unto  his  friend '' 
(ver.  11).  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  communion  more  close, 
more  purifying,  more  elevating  than  this,  which  Moses  was 
permitted  to  enjoy  for  nearly  forty  years,  from  the  first  erection 
of  the  Tabernacle  to  the  day  of  his  death. 

But  this  was  not  all.  While  his  continual  growth  in  grace, 
and  in  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  was  thus  provided 
for,  a  further  momentary  privilege  was  granted  him  transcend- 
ing any  ever  previously  imparted  to  any  of  the  sons  of  men. 
Hungering  more  and  more  after  the  sight  of  God,  as  he  was 
drawn  more  and  more  close  to  him,  Moses  desired  and  prayed 
to  see  the  unveiled  glory  of  Jehovah  (ver.  18).  The  request 
could  not  be  granted  in  its  fulness.  "  Thou  canst  not  see  my 
face,"  he  was  told,  "  for  there  shall  no  man  see  my  face  and 
live "  (ver.  20).  But  all  was  granted  that  was  possible.  He 
was  bidden  to  ascend  Sinai  alone  ;  the  flocks  and  the  herds  were 
to  be  removed  to  a  distance  from  the  mount  (Exod.  xxxiv.  3)  ; 
he  was  to  take  his  place  on  a  well-known  or  prominent  rock 
(Exod.  xxxiii.  21)  ;  and  there,  covered  by  the  Divine  hand  and 
sheltered  in  a  clift  of  the  rock,  he  was  to  wait  while  the  Divine 
Glory  passed  him  by.  The  scene  evidently  transcends  human 
language  and  human  thought.  It  has  to  be  described  by  tropes 
and  figures.  God,  having  first  proclaimed  His  name,  as  "The 
Lord,  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering,  and 
abundant  in  goodness  and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands, 
and  yet  visiting  iniquity,"  and  in  no  case  "clearing  the  guilty" 
(Exod.  xxxiv.  6-7),  passed  Moses  by  in  such  sort  that  "  His  face'' 
was  not  seen,  but  only  "His  back  parts"  (Exod.  xxxiii.  23) — some 
reflex  image  of  His  glory,  that  is  to  say,  some  radiance  left  by  it, 
but  the  utmost  that  man  could  see  and  yet  live,  more  (probably) 
than  either  Isaiah  (vi.  i)  or  Ezekiel  (i.  26)  saw — some  near 
approach  to  that  "beatific  vision  "  which  shall  constitute  to  the 
saints  in  bliss  the  satisfaction  of  all  their  cravings,  the  perfect 
contentation  of  all  their  desires. 

Moses  after  Sinai  is  not  as  Moses  before  Sinai — he  is 
spiritualized — he  lives  in  a  different  world.  Not  that  he  is  as 
yet  sinless.  Human  imperfection  clings  to  him,  as  it  must  to 
all  who  have  not  passed  within  the  veil.  l3ut  he  is  henceforth 
the  Prophet  rather  than  the  Ruler,  "  very  meek  "  and  wanting 


154  MOSES. 

in  self-assertion  (Numb,  xii,  3),  free  from  all  jealousy  (Numb.  xi. 
29),  mild,  forgiving  (Numb.  xii.  13),  chiefly  employed  in  com- 
municating God's  will  to  the  people.  He  must  have  passed 
much  of  his  time  in  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congregation,  in 
close  communion  with  the  Almighty,  receiving  from  Him  that 
complex  legislation,  which,  according  to  the  Rabbis,  contained 
248  positive  and  365  negative  precepts,  and  which  occupies 
almost  the  whole  of  two  Books  of  Scripture — Leviticus  and 
Numbers.  A  distance  was  placed  between  him  and  his 
countrymen  by  the  strange  glory  which  shone  from  his  face, 
and  the  veil  which  he  ordinarily  wore  to  shroud  it  from  them 
— he  became  to  them  something  mysterious,  something  awful — 
they  watched  his  movements  with  a  timid  and  subdued  curiosity 
(Exod,  xxiii.  8-10) — he  must  have  seemed  to  them  more  than 
mortal,  half  human,  half  Divine.  And,  correspondent  to  this 
external  manifestation  of  increased  likeness  to  God,  was  an 
invv'ard  purification  and  elevation  of  character,  a  passage  "from 
strength  to  strength,"  "  from  glory  to  glory,"  which,  though 
Moses  himself  was  perhaps  unconscious  of  it,  as  he  was  at  first 
of  the  light  that  streamed  from  his  face  (Exod.  xxxiv.  29),  is  yet 
very  apparent  to  the  careful  student  of  the  later  Books  of  the 
Pentateuch. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

HEBREW  ART   IN   MOSES'  TIME. 

Hebrew  Art  more  advanced  than  might  have  appeared  probable— Possible 
derivation  of  some  of  it  from  Chaldea— Artificers  needed  by  nomadic 
tribes— Advances  which  Hebrew  Art  would  naturally  have  made  in 
Egypt— Egyptian  and  Hebrew  Metallurgy— Carpentry— Textile  in- 
dustry—Embroidery—Tanning and  dyeing  of  leather— Gem-cutting 
and  gem-engraving— Confection  of  spices  and  unguents— General 
Egyptian  character  of  Hebrew  Art  in  Moses'  time— Exceptions- 
Hebrew  eclecticism. 

Among  the  instructions  given  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai  was 
a  long  series  (Exod.  xxv.-xxx.),  which  had  reference  to  the 
externals  of  worship,  and  involved  the  exercise  of  various  arts 
and  industries,  belonging  to  a  somewhat  advanced  civilization 
—a  civilization  which  has  seemed  to  many  out  of  harmony  with 
the  circumstances  of  the  people,  just  escaped  from  slavery,  and 
from  employment  in  agriculture,  building,  brick-making,  and 
other  servile  labours.  It  is  therefore  important  to  consider  what 
opportunities  the  Hebrews  had  had  of  attaining  proficiency  in 
the  arts  and  industries  in  question,  and  what  it  may  reasonably 
be  concluded  that  their  civilization  in  these  respects  was  at  the 
time  of  the  exodus.  The  subject  is  also  one  proper  to  be  dis- 
cussed in  any  account  of  the  "Life  and  Times  of  Moses,"  which 
could  not  be  complete  without  some  consideration  of  it. 

First,  then,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  the  Chaldeans,  or 
Babylonians,  at  the  time  when  the  family  of  Abraham  left  them 
and  proceeded  northwards,  were  in  possession  of  many  valuable 
arts,  and  of  a  civilization  that  had  advanced  considerably  beyond 
the  first  rudiments.     The  Babylonians  of  a  time  lon^  anterior 


156  MOSES. 

to  Abraham  burnt  excellent  brick  (Gen.  xi.  3),  built  cities  (Gen. 
X.  10),  and  conceived  the  design  of  erecting  a  tower  whose  top 
should  reach  to  heaven  (Gen.  xi.  4).  They  were  well  acquainted 
with  metallurgy,  and  by  the  mixture  of  copper  with  tin  produced 
a  bronze  of  a  quality  scarcely  surpassed  by  the  best  bronze  of 
the  Greeks.  They  were  familiar  with  the  art  of  weaving,  and 
manufactured  fabrics  of  a  good  quality,  which  by  the  time  of 
Moses,  and  probably  much  earlier,  had  attained  a  wide  reputa- 
tion, and  formed  an  article  of  exportation  to  foreign  countries 
(Josh.  vii.  21).  They  had  paid  great  attention  to  the  arts  of 
gem-cutting  and  gem- engraving,  which  they  carried  to  a  coh- 
siderable  degree  of  perfection,  having  advanced  so  far  as  to 
deal  freely  with  several  of  the  materials  known  to  jewellers  as 
"  hard  stones,"  and  covering  these  with  inscriptions  and  with 
representations  of  men  and  animals,  which  indicate  a  complete 
mastery  of  the  graver.^ 

There  can  be  no  reason  why  the  household  of  Terah,  when  he 
cjuitted  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  should  not  have  contained  artificers 
well  instructed  in  the  various  arts  practised  in  Babylonia  at  the 
time.  A  nomadic  tribe,  which  avoids  cities  and  dwells  in  the 
wilderness,  requires  to  have  in  it  persons  capable  of  producing 
all  the  commodities  which  it  regards  as  essential  to  its  hfe.  The 
household  of  Abraham  contained  318  males  ;  that  of  Terah  was 
probably  not  smaller.  He  would  be  careful  to  include  within 
it,  before  quitting  Ur,  persons  skilled  in  weaving  the  goat's-hair 
cloths  required  as  coverings  for  the  tents,  weavers  of  woollen 
cloth  for  the  outer  and  of  linen  for  the  inner  garments,  artificers 
in  metal  to  furnish  the  tribe  with  arms,  ornaments,  and  imple- 
ments, potters  to  make  them  their  ordinary  earthenware  utensils, 
and  even  perhaps  artists  skilled  in  the  delicate  embroidery  of 
garments,  together  with  gem-cutters  and  gem-engravers,  who 
might  provide  the  chiefs  and  the  upper  class  of  their  retainers 
with  seals,  cylinders,  and  rings.  The  descendants  of  Abraham, 
long  before  they  entered  Egypt,  possessed  signets,  bracelets 
(Gen.  xxxviii.  18),  earrings  (Gen.  xxxv.  4),  and  coats  of  divers 
colours  (Gen.  xxxvii.  3).  It  is  probable  that  their  tents,  their 
clothing,  their  arms,  and  their  ornaments,  were  alike  of  native 
workmanship. 

But,  however  this  may  have  been,  it  is  quite  certain  that,  on 
entering  Egypt,  they  came  into  contact  with  a  civilization  of  a 
'  See  the  Author's  "  Five  Great  Monarchies,"  vol.  i.  pp.  88-131. 


HEBREW  ART   IN    MOSKS'  TIME.  1 57 

very  high  order — a  civilization  which  was  perhaps  a  thousand 
years  old,  and  which  included  witiiin  it  all  those  branches  of 
art  and  industry  with  which,  according  to  the  author  of  the 
Pentateuch,  the  Hebrews  were  familiar  in  the  wilderness.  If 
previously  the  processes  employed  by  them  had  been  rude,  or 
coarse,  or  in  any  way  defective,  and  the  manufactured  products 
had  consequently  been  of  poor  quality,  there  would  have  been 
opportunity  in  Ej^ypt  to  make  rapid  advance  in  all  the  various 
lines  of  industry,  and  to  carry  those  which  were  most  valued  to 
a  high  degree  of  perfection.  For  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
when  the  tribe  of  two  or  three  thousand  souls  entered  Egypt 
they  were,  all  of  them,  at  once  employed  in  nothing  but  shep- 
herding. Shepherding  was  no  doubt  their  principal  occupation ; 
but  those  of  them  who  had  been  artificers  before  entering  Egypt 
would  have  been  likely  to  retain  their  occupation.  Such  persons 
would  compare  their  methods  with  those  prevailing  in  their  new 
country,  and  having  the  intelligence  and  commercial  instinct 
which  have  always  characterized  the  Hebrews,  would  not  be 
slow  to  adopt  such  improvements  as  came  under  their  notice. 
We  have  a  right  to  suppose  that,  when  the  Israelites  quitted 
Egypt,  their  artisans  generally  would  be  fairly  on  a  par  with 
those  of  the  native  Egyptians,  and  would  be  capable  of  pro- 
ducing works  nearly,  if  not  quite,  equal  to  those  which  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Nile  valley  fabricated  or  manufactured  at  the 
period. 

What,  then,  are  the  chief  classes  of  works,  the  production  of 
which  during  their  sojourn  in  the  wilderness  is  distinctly  assigned 
to  the  Israelites,  and  what  evidence  have  we  that  works  of  the 
same  or  of  a  similar  character  were  within  the  competence  of 
Egyptian  artists  and  manufiicturers  at  the  time  of  the  exodus, 
or  the  period  of  the  twentieth  dynasty  .'*  The  works  would 
seem  to  fall  under  seven  principal  heads  :  i.  Metallurgy  ;  2. 
Carpentry  and  cabinet-making  ;  3.  Weaving  of  stutis  ;  4.  Em- 
broidery ;  5.  Preparation  and  dying  of  leather  ;  6.  Gem-cutting 
and  engraving ;  and  7.  The  making  of  confections  out  of  spices 
and  similar  ingredients. 

The  metallurgy  of  the  Egyptians  was  of  a  very  advanced 
description.  It  comprised  the  working  in  gold,  in  silver  and 
lead  to  a  small  extent,  in  copper,  in  iron,  and  in  bronze.  Tin 
appears  to  have  been  but  little  used  except  as  an  alloy,  while 
zinc  was  wholly  unknown.     The  Egyptians  found  gold  in  con- 


1 58  MOSES. 

siderable  quantities  within  the  limits  of  their  own  land,  chiefly 
in  veins  of  quartz  towards  the  south-eastern  part  of  their  country. 
After  digging  out  the  quartz,  they  broke  it  up  by  hand  into  small 
pieces,  which  were  then  passed  on  to  the  crushing-mill,  and 
ground  to  powder  between  two  flat  granite  mill-stones  of  no 
great  size  ;  this  work  again  being  performed  by  manual  labour. 
The  quartz  thus  reduced  to  powder  was  washed  on  inclined 
tables,  furnished  with  one  or  two  cisterns,  until  all  the  earthy 
matter  ran  away,  flowing  down  the  incline  with  the  water.  The 
gold  particles  which  remained  were  carefully  collected  and 
formed  into  ingots  by  exposure  to  the  heat  of  a  furnace  for  five 
days  and  nights  in  earthen  crucibles,  which  were  allowed  to  cool, 
and  then  broken.  The  ingots,  having  been  extracted,  were 
weighed  and  laid  by  for  use.  The  manufacture  of  objects  out 
of  gold  was  effected  by  goldsmiths,  who,  after  melting  down  an 
ingot  or  a  portion  of  one,  in  a  crucible,  with  the  help  of  a  blow- 
pipe, proceeded  to  work  the  material  into  shape  with  the  forceps 
and  tongs,  and,  finally,  to  fashion  it  with  graving  tools.  Among 
the  objects  produced  the  commonest  were  solid  rings  of  a  certain 
size  and  weight,  which  seem  to  have  passed  current  as  money, 
vases,  bowls,  baskets,  armlets,  bracelets,  anklets,  necklaces, 
collars,  ear-rings,  and  other  ornaments  of  the  person  ;  cups, 
goblets,  rhytons,  and  other  drinking  vessels.  Much  taste  was 
shown  in  many  of  them.  Animal  forms,  especially  the  heads  of 
horses  and  ibexes,  and  the  heads  or  entire  bodies  of  serpents 
were  represented  in  solid  metal,  or  in  chasings  on  metal  ;  brace- 
lets and  ear-rings  were  often  set  with  gems,  and  occasionally 
enamelled  or  inlaid  with  lapis  lazuli  and  glass  pastes. 

In  silver  the  objects  produced  were  principally  rings  used  for 
money,  vases,  bracelets,  plates  to  be  employed  as  ornaments  of 
mummies,  finger-rings,  and  statuettes,  chiefly  of  gods  and  sacred 
animals.  The  fashioning  of  the  objects  was  effected  much  in 
the  same  way  as  the  fashioning  of  the  objects  in  gold  ;  but  it  is 
probable  that  the  statuettes  were  cast.  Silver  objects  are  some- 
times gilt. 

The  Egyptian  manufacture .  of  bronze  was  very  extensive. 
Arms,  implements  ;  household  vessels,  such  as  cauldrons,  bowls, 
ewers,  jugs,  buckets,  basins,  vases,  ladles,  &c.  ;  articles  of  the 
toilet,  mirrors,  tweezers,  razors,  pins,  ear-rings,  armlets,  brace- 
lets ;  artistic  objects,  figures  of  gods,  of  sacred  animals,  and  of 
men  ;  tools,  such  as  saws,  chisels,  hatchets,  adzes,  drills,  and 


HEBREW   ART   IN    iMOSES'  TIME.  159 

bradawls,  arc  usually,  or  at  any  rate  frequently,  of  this  material. 
The  bronze  arms  included  swords,  daggers,  battleaxes,  maces, 
spearheads,  arrow-heads,  and  coats  of  mail ;  the  implements, 
ploughshares,  sickles,  knives,  forceps,  nails,  needles,  harpoons, 
and  fish-hooks.  The  Egyptian  bronze  was  very  variously  com- 
posed ;  sometimes  it  contained  as  much  as  fourteen  parts  of  tin 
and  one  of  iron  to  eighty-five  parts  of  copper — a  very  unusual  pro- 
portion ;  more  often  the  copper  stood  to  the  tin  as  eighty-eight  to 
twelve  ;  while  sometimes  the  proportion  was  as  high  as  ninetv- 
four  to  six.  The  process  of  melting  bronze  is  not  shown  upon 
the  Egyptian  monuments,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
metals  composing  it  were  melted  and  mixed  together  in  furnaces, 
the  glowing  mass  being  then  run  into  moulds,  allowed  to  cool, 
and  finished  by  the  hand. 

Tin  was  made  into  plates,  which  were  inscribed  with  the 
symbolic  eye,  and  employed  to  cover  the  incision  in  the  flank  of 
mummies,  which  had  been  made  for  the  purpose  of  removing 
the  entrails.  It  was  also  employed  together  wdth  lead,  as  a 
solder. 

Iron  was  occasionally  used  for  tools,  arms,  and  implements, 
but  seems  to  have  been  scarce,  or  at  any  rate  was  not  employed 
with  anything  like  the  same  frequency  as  bronze.  Bronze 
implements  and  weapons  were  found  to  answer  every  purpose 
satisfactorily  ;  and  being  manufactured  much  more  easily  than 
iron  was,  were,  on  the  whole,  preferred  to  them. 

The  metallurgy''  of  the  Israelites,  as  disclosed  to  us  by  the 
narrative  of  the  Pentateuch,  followed  closely  the  Egyptian  lines. 
The  metals  employed  were  chiefly,  if  not  solely,  gold,  silver,  and 
bronze  (Exod.  xxv.  3  ;  xxxv.  5).  Gold  was  more  widely  employed 
than  silver.  It  was  used  in  plates  to  overlay  wood  (vers.  11, 13, 
&c.),  for  rings  (ver.  12),  for  moulded  figures  (ver.  18  ;  xxxii.  4),  for 
bowls  and  their  covers,  for  dishes  and  spoons  (Exod.  xxv.  29), 
for  lamp-stands  and  lamps  (vers.  31-37),  and  for  personal  orna- 
ments, such  as  chains,  breastplates,  bells,  ear-rings,  bracelets, 
and  the  like  (Exod.  xxxii.  3  ;  xxxv.  22,  &c.).  Silver  was  em- 
ployed to  overlay  wood,  and  also  for  hooks  and  sockets  (Exod. 
xxvii.  10,  17,  &r.).  The  general  material  for  vessels  of  all  sorts 
and  kinds  was  bronze.  Of  bronze  was  made  the  great  laver  for 
the  court  of  the  Tabernacle  (Exod.  xxx.  18),  the  pillars  for  the 
court  (Exod.  xxvii.  101  and  their  sockets,  the  external  covering 
of  the  altar  of  burnt-offering  (ver.  2),  all  the  vessels  of  the  altar 


l6o  MOSES. 

(ver.  3),  the  tent  pegs  which  kept  the  tabernacle  erect  (ver.  19), 
and  "all  the  vessels  of  the  Tabernacle"  (ver.  19).  To  fashion 
these  objects,  many  of  them  wholly  new  in  design  and  pattern, 
the  Israelites  must  have  had  among  them  goldsmiths,  silver- 
smiths, and  metallurgists  of  various  kinds,  and  have  carried 
with  them  out  of  Egypt  the  apparatus  necessary  for  melting  the 
metals,  and  running  it  or  fashioning  it  into  such  shapes  as  were 
required.  Bezaleel,  it  is  distinctly  said  (Exod.  xxxi.  4),  was  skil- 
ful "  to  devise  cunning  works,  and  to  w-ork  in  gold,  and  in  silver, 
and  in  brass  "  (/.(?.,  bronze).  He  must  have  had  a  large  number 
of  skilled  artisans  under  him. 

The  carpentry  and  cabinet-making  of  Egypt  were  excellent. 
From  an  exceedingly  remote  date  the  Egyptians  were  acquainted 
with  the  saw,  and  by  its  aid  could  separate  into  thin  planks  every 
kind  of  wood.  These  they  could  smooth  with  adzes  and  planes 
into  a  perfectly  even  surface.  The  high  value  placed  by  the 
priesthood  on  "  arks  "  for  the  repose  and  conveyance  of  images 
of  the  gods,  together  with  the  store  set  by  the  higher  orders  on 
perfectly  fashioned  coffins,  or  mummy-cases,  caused  extreme 
care  and  attention  to  be  given  to  this  branch  of  industry.  None 
of  the  actual  arks  have  come  down  to  us,  but  the  representations 
on  tombs  and  other  monuments  show  them  to  have  been  tasteful 
and  elegant.^  The  mummy-cases  are  exceedingly  well  made, 
and  are  generally  painted  with  much  elaboration.  Smaller 
objects,  such  as  sepulchral  boxes,  and  boxes  to  contain  articles 
of  the  toilet,  are  evidences  of  still  greater  skill  and  care,  being 
often  inlaid  with  gold,  ivory,  or  porcelain,  and  sometimes  having 
covers  that  move  on  a  hinge.  There  is  nothing  in  the  account 
given  of  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  or  of  the  wood-work  used  in 
the  Tabernacle  and  its  surroundings,  which  at  all  transcends 
what  the  Egyptian  carpenters  and  cabinet-makers  of  the  time 
of  the  twentieth  dynasty  could  have  produced.  The  Ark  itself 
must  have  borne  a  considerable  resemblance  to  the  arks  used 
in  their  religious  worship  by  the  Egyptians.  The  images  of  the 
cherubim  with  their  outstretched  wings  remind  us  of  the  winged 
figures  of  Ma,  or  "  Truth,"  so  often  seen  within  the  arks,  shel- 
tering the  scarabaeus  or  some  other  emblem  of  the  deity.  The 
staves  passed  through  rings,  by  which  the  Ark,  the  table  of 
shew-bread,  and  the  altar  of  incense  were  to  be  carried,  have 
their  coimterparts  in  the  poles  similarly  passed  through  rings, 
*  See  the  Author's  "Herodotus,"  vol.  ii.  p.  85  (edition  of  1862). 


HEBREW    ARl'    I\    MOSES'   TIME.  l6[ 

which  are  seen  in  the  Egyptian  sculptures,  attacl'.cd  to  arks, 
thrones,  and  Htters,  and  resting  on  the  shoulders  of  the  men 
who  cai  ry  them.  The  pillars  of  the  Tabernacle,  with  their  carved 
"chapiters,"  or  capitals,  would  have  presented  no  dithculties  to 
Egyptian  artizans,  who  suj^portcd  the  fronts  of  houses,  and 
corridors  within  houses,  with  tall  thin  pillar*,  which  seem  to 
have  been  of  wood,  and  which  terminate  in  a  "  lotus  capital."  ' 

Weaving  was  an  art  in  which  the  Egyptians  highly  excelled. 
Though  the  only  loom  known  to  them  was  a  hand-loom  of  the 
simplest  and  most  primitive  description,  yet  the  fabrics  which 
they  produced  were  in  all  cases  thoroughly  good,  and  sometimes 
quite  admirable.  They  worked  in  linen,  in  cotton,  and  in  wool, 
producing  satisfactory  results  in  each  material  ;  but  their 
favourite  textile  manufacture  was  that  of  linen,  and  it  is  in  this 
branch  that  their  fabrics  are  most  remarkable.  The  fineness  of 
some  equals  that  of  the  best  Indian  muslin,  while  of  others  it  is 
said,  that  "  in  touch  they  are  comparable  to  silk,  and  in  texture 
to  our  finest  cambric."  ^  Commonly  the  linen  was  white  ;  but 
sometimes  it  was  dyed  red,  and  at  other  times  the  edges  were 
coloured  with  indigo,  either  in  a  single  line  or  in  several  parallel 
stripes.  Patterns  were  occasionally  inwrought  during  the 
weaving,  while  sometimes  they  were  superadded  by  a  process 
analagous  to  that  which  in  modern  times  is  called  "  printing." 
Gold  threads  were  also  in  some  cases  introduced  to  give  addi- 
tional richness  to  the  fabric,  which  was  often  as  transparent  as 
lawn  and  of  silky  softness.  In  the  best  of  the  linen  manufactures 
each  thread  was  composed  of  several  strands,  spun  separately 
and  then  twisted  together,  the  number  of  the  strands  being 
occasionally,  it  is  said,  as  many  as  three  hundred  and  sixty."  ^ 

Less  is  known  concerning  the  cotton  and  the  woollen  fabrics 
of  the  Egyptians,  which  have  not  in  many  cases  survived  to  our 
time  ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  they  fell  much  short 
of  the  fabrics  in  linen.  The  use  of  cotton  was,  comparatively 
speaking,  rare  ;  but  that  of  woollen  fabrics  was  common.  In 
winter  each  Egyptian  wore  a  woollen  outer  garment ;  and  woollen 
cloths,  the  purpose  of  which  is  not  quite  clear,  have  been  found 
in  some  of  the  tombs. 

As  with  the  Egyptians,  so  with  the  Israelites  in  the  wilder- 

*  Rosellini,  "  Monuinenti  Civili."     Plates,  vol.  ii.  pi.  68,  fig.  a. 
'Wilkinson's  "  Ancient  Egyptians,"  vol.  iii.  p.  119. 
3  Herodotus,  iii,  47. 

12 


1 62  MOSES. 

ness,  linen  was  the  chief  material  employed  for  textile  fabrics. 
The  curtains  of  the  Tabernacle  were  ''  of  fine-twined  linen,  blue, 
and  purple,  and  scarlet  (Exod.  xxvi.  i).  Of  similar  material 
was  the  veil  which  divided  between  the  Holy  Place  and  the 
Holy  of  Holies  (ver.  31).  The  hangings  of  the  court  were  also 
of  "fine-twined  linen"  (Exod.  xxvii.  9).  Linen  was  the  only 
material  used  in  the  vestments  of  the  priests  (Exod.  xxviii.). 
The  outer  covering  of  the  Tabernacle  was  of  "  goat's  hair,"  i.e., 
of  a  textile  fabric  woven  from  the  soft  under-hair  of  the  Syrian 
goat.  This  fabric  is  not  found  in  Egypt  where  there  was  no 
occasion  for  it,  since  the  Egyptians  do  not  seem  to  have  made 
any  use  of  tents.  The  art  of  weaving  such  a  cloth  was  probably 
brought  by  the  Israelites  with  them  into  Egypt  from  their  Syrian 
and  Palestinian  homes.  It  is  an  art  well  known  to  all  the  wan- 
dering tribes  of  Mesopotamia  and  Arabia,  and  is  almost  a 
necessity  of  their  existence. 

The  Egyptians  are  said  by  Herodotus  to  have  embroidered 
some  of  their  linen  fabrics  with  gold  thread  and  with  cotton  ;  ^ 
and  woollen  fabrics  ornamented  with  embroidered  patterns  have 
been  occasionally  found  in  the  tombs.  It  was  thus  quite  within 
the  competency  of  the  Hebrews,  as  being  familiar  with  the  arts 
of  Egypt,  to  embroider  the  ephod  of  the  High  Priest  with  gold 
(Exod.  xxviii.  6),  and  the  "curious  girdle"  with  "needlework" 
of  an  artistic  character  (ver.  39),  as  well  as  to  work  (or  perhaps 
weave)  figures  of  cherubim  into  the  covering  (Exod.  xxvi.  i)and 
the  veil  (ver.  31)  of  the  Tabernacle. 

The  tanning  and  dyeing  of  leather  was  also  known  to  the 
Egyptians.  The  bottoms  of  the  chairs  which  have  come  down 
to  our  day  are  frequently  "  of  tanned  and  dyed  leather,"  cut  into 
straps  and  intertwined  or  plaited  together.  Leathern  straps  are 
also  found  "  crossing  the  shoulders  and  the  breasts  of  mummies," 
and  "  stamped  at  the  ends  with  the  names  and  figures  of  kings 
of  the  twentieth  and  following  dynasties."  Leather  was  likewise 
employed  in  the  construction  of  chariots,  as  well  as  for  caps,  for 
aprons,  and  for  sandals.  Thus  the  Israelites  may  well  have 
carried  with  them  out  of  Eg\  pt  a  certain  number  of  "  rams' 
skins  dyed  red,"  such  as  they  are  reported  to  have  ofi'ered  (Exod. 
xxxv.  23)  towards  the  construction  of  the  Tabernacle. 

Much  attention  had  been  paid  in  Egypt  from  a  very  early 
date  to  the  cutting,  polishing,  and  engraving  of  gems.     The 

*  Herodotus,  iii.  47. 


HEBREW   ART    IN    MOSES'   TIME.  163 

hardest  class  of  stones,  such  as  the  diamond,  the  ruby,  the 
emerald,  the  sapphire,  the  topaz,  and  the  chr^soberyl,  seem  to 
have  defied  their  efiforts  ;  and,  at  any  rate,  no  proof  has  come 
down  to  us  that  they  had  the  power  of  cutting  the  gems 
mentioned.  But  they  dealt  freely  with  stones  of  the  second 
degree  of  hardness — e.i^.  the  amethyst,  the  garnet,  the  carnelian, 
the  jasper,  and  with  haematite,  porphyry,  lapis  lazuli,  green 
felspar,  obsidian,  serpentine,  and  steatite.  These  they  both  cut 
into  amulets  and  ornaments,  and  also  set  in  finger  rings,  arm- 
lets, bracelets,  earrings,  &:c.  They  also  frequently  engraved 
these  gems  either  with  the  names  and  titles  of  kings,  or  with 
their  own  names,  or  with  images  or  emblems  of  deities.  Among 
the  engraved  gems  are  the  carnelian,  the  yellow  jasper,  green 
felspar,  serpentine,  basalt,  porphyry,  steatite,  and  steaschist. 

Bezaleel,  the  chief  artificer  of  the  Tabernacle,  was  especially 
skilled  in  "the  cutting  of  stones,"  and  the  "setting"  of  them 
(Exod.  XXXV.  33).  It  is  difficult  to  say  what  exact  stones  were 
employed  in  the  ornamentation  of  the  dress  of  the  High  Priest. 
The  two  large  shoulder  ornaments  seem  certainly  to  have  been 
either  onyxes  or  sardonyxes,  both  of  them  stones  tolerably  easy 
to  engrave,  and  found  of  a  sufficiently  large  size  to  answer  the 
description  of  Exod.  xxviii.  9-12.  The  fact  that  these  stones 
are  not  among  those  known  to  have  been  made  use  of  by  the 
Egyptians  is  not  very  important,  since  they  were  common  in 
Arabia,  and  may  have  been  obtained  by  Moses  from  Arab 
traders,  whom  the  presence  of  the  children  of  Israel  in  the 
Sinaitic  Peninsula,  and  their  known  wealth,  would  naturally 
have  attracted.  The  gems  of  the  priestly  breast-plate  (vers. 
17-20)  are  exceedingly  difficult  to  determine.  According  to 
the  Authorised  Version,  they  included  the  topaz,  the  emerald, 
the  sapphire,  and  the  diamond ;  but  modern  critics  do  not  allow 
these  renderings.  It  is  most  probable  that  the  twelve  gems 
were  the  sard,  the  chrysolite,  the  beryl,  the  carbuncle,  the 
lapis  lazuli,  the  onyx,  the  jacinth,  the  agate,  the  amethyst,  the 
turquoise,  the  sardonyx,  and  the  jasper.  All  these  stones  are 
fairly  easy  to  engrave,  and  Arabia  could  furnish  by  far  the 
greater  number  of  them.  The  Sinaitic  peninsula  itself  had 
turquoise  mines,  and  sards,  onyxes,  agates,  jaspers,  amethysts, 
carbuncles,  and  lapis  lazuli  are  either  Arabian  products  or  known 
to  have  been  common  in  Egypt. 

Gem-engraving  had  been  practised  in  Egypt  from  the  time  of 


1 64  MOSES. 

the  fourth  dynasty,  and  was  in  much  favour  under  the  Pharaohs 
of  the  nineteenth.  It  is  thought  to  have  been  effected  by  means 
of  bronze  tools  assisted  with  emery  powder.  Bezaleel  no  doubt 
learnt  the  art  in  one  of  the  Egyptian  towns,  Heliopolis,  or  Tanis, 
or  ^Memphis,  and  brought  with  him  the  materials  necessary  for 
the  exercise  of  liis  art  when  he  quitted  the  Egyptian  territory. 
If  he  was,  as  perhaps  he  was,  a  jeweller  by  trade  in  Egypt,  he 
may  have  himself  supplied  the  greater  number  of  the  breast- 
plate stones. 

The  Egyptians  had  studied  the  confection  of  spices  from  a 
very  early  date  in  connection  with  the  embalming  of  human 
bodies.  Herodotus  says  that,  in  the  best  kind  of  embalming, 
after  taking  out  the  intestines,  they  filled  the  cavity  of  the  belly 
with  a  mixture  of  "  the  purest  bruised  myrrh,  of  cassia,  and  of 
every  other  kind  of  spicery  except  frankincense."^  They  were 
also  very  choice  in  the  unguents  which,  while  alive,  they  applied 
to  their  persons,  and  the  toilet  table  was  commonly  covered 
with  a  great  variety  of  jars,  vases,  basins,  and  boxes,  which 
contained  ointments,  unguents,  and  cosmetics  variously  com- 
pounded. Bezaleel,  who  appears  to  have  been  a  universal 
genius,  added  to  his  other  kinds  of  knowledge  an  acquaintance 
with  ''the  art  of  the  apothecary"  (Exod.  xxx.  25,  35,  xxxvii.  29), 
and  compounded  a  "holy  anointing  oil"  and  an  "incense  of 
sweet  spices,"  which  were  equal  probably,  though  perhaps 
not  superior,  to  the  confections  known  in  Egypt.  His  "holy 
anointing  oil"  was  composed  of  one-third  myrrh,  one-third 
cassia,  one-sixth  cinnamon,  one-sixth  sweet  calamus,  and  an 
uncertain  quantity  of  oil  olive.  His  "  incense  of  sweet  spices" 
contained  equal  quantities  of  frankincense,  galbanum,  gum 
storax,  and  onycha.  The  component  elements  were,  in  both 
cases,  prescribed  to  him  by  Moses,  after  the  command  of 
God,  but  the  method  of  preparation  seems  to  have  been  left 
to  himself,  and  here  he  would  naturally  fall  back  upon  the 
knowledge  which  he  had  acquired  in  Egypt  from  the  Egyptian 
"  apothecaries." 

Altogether,  the  Hebrew  art  of  the  time  of  Moses  is  clearly, 
in  the  main,  based  upon  the  art  of  the  Egyptians.  It  is  more 
contracted  than  that  art,  since  many  of  the  objects  which  the 
Egyptians  most  highly  valued  were  either  contemned  by  the 
Hebrews  or  unsuited  to  their  life  in  the  wilderness.   As  wanderers, 

*  Herodotus,  ii.  86. 


HEBREW   ART   IN    MOSES'   TIME.  165 

the  Hebrews  could  have  no  architecture,  properly  so-called,  and 
therefore  no  painting  and  no  sculpture.  The  Tabernacle  was 
not  a  temple  but  a  tent,  as  the  name  implies,  and  followed  the 
laws  of  tent-construction  in  general.  The  Hebrews  had  ne\cr 
used  chariots  in  Egypt,  and  did  not  adopt  them  till  the  time 
of  Solomon  (i  Kings  x.  26).  They  had  ho  need  of  costly 
and  elaborate  furniture,  and  therefore  despised  the  Egyptian 
upholstery.  They  do  not  appear  to  have  either  practised,  or 
valued,  glass-blowing,  or  enamelling,  or  the  producti'^n  of  arti- 
ficial pastes  in  imitation  of  gems,  or  the  making  of  wigs,  or  of 
delicate  porcelain  fabrics,  or  of  gold  and  silver  vases  for  the 
table,  or  of  litters,  or  of  sarcophagi.  But  the  arts  which  they 
employed,  having  been  for  the  most  part  learnt  in  Egypt,  if  they 
did  not  exactly  follow  the  Egyptian  pattern,  had  at  any  rate 
more  or  less  of  an  Egyptian  character.  The  Ark,  the  mode 
of  carrying  it,  its  overlaying  with  gold,  the  outstretched  wings 
of  the  cherubs,  the  preference  of  linen  for  sacred  purposes, 
and  especially  for  priests'  garments,  the  embroidering  with  gold 
thread,  the  inweaving  of  patterns  in  textile  fabrics,  the  setting 
of  gems  in  cloison)ie  work,  the  use  of  unguents,  the  religious 
employment  of  incense,  the  fourfold  arrangement  of  the  Taber- 
nacle into  a  Court,  a  Porch,  a  Holy  Place,  and  a  Holy  of  Holies, 
the  sacred  laver,  the  ornamentation  with  lilies,  had  all  of  them 
their  counterparts  in  Egypt,  and  recall  elements  more  or  less 
essential  of  the  Egyptian  civilization.  It  is  a  strong  confirmation 
of  the  historical  date  assigned  to  the  Tabernacle  and  its  ap- 
purtenances in  Exodus,  that  there  are  attached  to  it  so  many 
Egyptian  features  ;  for  at  no  other  time  in  the  life  of  the  Hebrew 
nation  would  it  have  been  natural  for  them  to  conform  themselves 
in  so  many  respects  to  "  the  manner  of  Egypt." 

At  the  same  time  Hebrew  art  in  Moses'  time  was  far  from 
being  a  mere  imitation,  or  continuation,  of  the  art  of  Egypt. 
In  no  case  was  it  an  exact  reproduction  of  Egyptian  models. 
The  Ark  of  the  Covenant  differed  considerably  from  any 
Egvptian  ark.  The  arrangement  of  the  wings  of  the  cherubim 
differed  in  one  striking  respect  from  that  of  the  images 
of  Ma  ;  they  had  both  wrings.  Ma  had  one  wing  only,  elevated. 
They  were  outside  the  Ark,  guarding  it  ;  Ma  was  inside  her 
ark,  which  guarded  her.  The  chief  features  of  the  High  Priest's 
dress  were  altogether  peculiar.  The  Tabernacle,  though  to  some 
extent   Egyptian    in   arrangement,  was,  taken  as  a  whole,  an 


l66  MOSES. 

entirely  novel  construction,  for  which  Egypt  afforded  no  prece- 
dent. The  seven-branched  candlestick  was  wholly  unlike  any 
known  Egyptian  lamp-stand.  The  table  of  shew-bread,  and  the 
pot  of  manna,  have  no  Egyptian  prototypes.  The  goats'-hair, 
and  badger-skin  (or  sealskin)  coverings  of  the  Tabernacle  have 
nothing  parallel  to  them  in  Egypt.  The  cherubic  forms  were 
less  Egyptian  than  Assyrian  or  Babylonian  ;  the  overlaying 
of  wood  \\\\.h.  plates  of  gold  instead  of  merely  gilding  was  Baby- 
lonian; the  use  of  the  pomegranate  ornament  was  Assyrian; 
the  use  of  goats'-hair  Syrian  or  Arabian.  Hebrew  art  was 
thus,  even  in  Moses'  time,  to  a  considerable  extent  eclectic — a 
characteristic  which  clung  to  it,  and  which  is  especially  marked 
under  Solomon. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

MOSES    AS    RULER. 

Difficulties  of  the  situation  —  Disorganization — Judges  appointed  by  the 
advice  of  Jethro — Perversity  of  the  Israelites — Their  constant  murmur- 
ings— Moses  but  little  helped  by  his  subordinates — Conduct  of  Aaron 
and  Miriam— Relations  of  Moses  with  Joshua  and  with  Phinehas — 
The  true  support  of  Moses,  the  Theocracy — Its  nature — Mildness  and 
unselfishness  of  Moses. 

The  task  of  Moses,  as  sole  ruler  of  the  large  tribe  which  he 
had  led  out  of  Egypt,  must  have  been  one  of  enormous  diffi- 
culty. He  had — according  to  the  existing  text — to  provide 
for  the  welfare  of  above  two  millions  of  souls.  Even  if  we 
regard  the  numbers  of  the  text  as  corrupted,  and  reduce  each 
of  them  by  a  figure,  so  as  to  substitute  for  the  grand  total  of 
two  millions  and  a  half  the  comparatively  moderate  one  of  a 
quarter  of  a  million,  still  we  must  regard  the  difficulties  of  the 
situation  as  extreme,  and  indeed  as  not  much  diminished.  It 
was  the  quality,  rather  than  the  multitude  of  his  subjects,  that 
constituted  the  weight  of  his  burden.  Recently  a  horde  of 
serfs,  the  greater  part  of  them  ignorant,  uneducated,  debased 
by  their  long  servitude,  without  national  spirit,  without  lofty 
aspirations,  slaves  mostly  of  their  carnal  appetites,  fickle, 
childish,  impulsive,  they  were  as  intractable  a  race,  one  as 
difficult  to  direct  and  govern,  as  was  ever  committed  to  the 
charge  of  an  individual.  They  had,  it  must  be  remembered, 
next  to  no  institutions.  "Elders"  indeed  there  were,  heads  ot 
families,  or  head-men  of  villages,  who  had  been  allowed  by  the 
Pharaohs  to  exercise  a  certain  amount  of  authoritv  over  their 


1 68  MOSES. 

fellow-countrymen.  But  the  organization  had  been  of  the 
loosest  kind,  the  authority  vague  and  indefinite,  its  source 
problematical,  its  extent  uncertain.  And  the  circumstances  of 
the  time  had  been  such  as  to  weaken  if  not  destroy  it.  Slaves, 
in  the  first  burst  of  their  emancipation,  are  apt  to  throw  oft 
restraints,  to  disown  subjection  to  any  kind  of  authority,  and  to 
regard  it  as  the  first  of  their  newly-gained  privileges,  that  they 
are  entitled  to  do  what  is  right  in  their  own  eyes.  If  the 
authority  of  the  head-men  had  been  still  acknowledged  at  the 
moment  of  the  exodus,  in  the  gathering  and  on  the  march, 
while  there  was  still  something  to  be  feared  from  Pharaoh  and 
his  host,  yet  after  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  it  would  have 
been  likely  to  fall  into  abeyance.  Danger  had  disappeared;  the 
open  desert  invited  to  freedom ;  the  simplicity  and  regularity  of 
the  daily  life  seemed  to  render  control  unnecessary.  When  Jethro 
visited  his  brother-in-law  at  Rephidim,  after  the  defeat  of  the 
Amalekites,  he  found  the  Israelites  a  disorganized  mass,  and 
the  sole  authority  over  them  that  of  Moses,  who  was  accepted 
as  Leader,  Ruler,  Guide,  and  Judge,  and  was  without  any 
recognized  assistants. 

In  this  condition  of  affairs  Jethro  recognized  very  great 
inconvenience.  Moses,  he  saw,  was  wearing  himself  out  by 
undertaking  more  than  any  single  man  could  perform  satisfac- 
torily (Exod.  xviii.  i8).  He  superintended  the  whole  machinery 
of  government.  He  judged  causes  all  day  long,  and  yet  could 
not  keep  pace  with  the  number  of  causes  that  were  always 
arising.  He  was  becoming  exhausted,  and  still  was  not  fully 
contenting  the  people.  Jethro  suggested  to  him  a  division  of 
labour.  He  set  before  him  the  Arabian  system  of  "  rulers  and 
judges,  of  elders  or  sheikhs,  that  still  forms  the  constitution  of 
the  Arabs  of  the  peninsula  ;  "  ^  and  ''  Moses  hearkened  to  the 
voice  of  his  brother-in-law,  and  did  all  that  he  had  said" 
(ver.  24).  The  plan  suggested  was,  that  Moses  should  "choose 
out  of  all  Israel  able  men,  and  make  them  heads  over  the 
people,  rulers  of  thousands,  rulers  of  hundreds,  rLU|p-s  of  fifties, 
and  rulers  of  tens"  (ver.  25).  Causes  were  to  be  judged  in 
the  first  instance  by  the  '"  rulers  of  tens,"  from  whom  there 
was  to  be  an  appeal  to  the  "  rulers  of  fifties,"  from  them  to 
the  "rulers  of  hundreds,"  and  then  finally  to  the  "rulers  of 
thousands."  Difficult  causes,  which  the  "  rulers  of  thousands  " 
*  Stanley,    "Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  144. 


MOSES   AS    RUIER.  169 

felt  themselves  incompetent  to  decide,  were  to  be  reserved  for 
the  judgment  of  Moses.  Moses  adopted  the  advice,  and  "out 
of  this  simple  arran<.,^cment  sprang  the  gradations  that  we  trace 
long  afterwards  in  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth."  ' 
Moses  seems  to  have  given  the  nomination  to  the  people,  but 
to  have  reserved  the  right  of  appointment  for  himself  (Deut.  i. 
13-15).  The  organization  thus  established  was  at  once  civil  and 
military.  The  officers  appointed  judged  causes,  and  also  exer- 
cised a  general  superintendence,  being  "elders"  in  their  civil, 
and  "  captains  "  in  their  military,  capacity.  The  arrangement, 
on  the  whole,  was  suitable,  and  gave  satisfaction,  thus  removing 
one  of  the  many  difficulties  which  beset  the  path  of  Moses  as 
a  ruler  at  this  period. 

But  the  chief  difficulties  were  untouched  by  it.  They  arose 
from  the  temper  of  the  people,  from  their  childishness,  their 
excitability,  their  want  of  balance,  and  their  want  of  any  real 
earnest  faith  in  God.  Every  difficulty  struck  them  as  insur- 
mountable ;  every  trial  caused  them  to  despair,  and  to  wish  that 
they  had  never  quitted  Egypt.  So  it  was  in  the  cul-de-sac  by 
the  Red  Sea,  when  they  reproached  Moses  with  having  carried 
them  forth  out  of  the  country,  and  declared  that  it  would  have 
been  better  for  them  to  have  continued  to  serve  the  Egyptians 
(Exod.  xiv.  11-12).  So  it  was  again  in  the  wilderness  of  Sin, 
when  they  first  began  to  feel  a  difficulty  with  respect  to  food. 
"Would  to  God,"  they  said,  "  that  w-e  had  died  by  the  hand  of 
the  Lord  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  when  we  sat  by  the  flesh-pots, 
when  w^e  did  eat  bread  to  the  full  ;  for  ye  have  brought  us  forth 
into  this  wilderness  to  kill  this  whole  assembly  with  hunger  " 
(Exod.  xvi.  3).  So  it  was  once  more  at  Rephidim,  when  for  the 
first  time  there  was  no  water.  "  The  people  murmured  against 
Moses  and  said.  Wherefore  is  this,  that  thou  hast  brought  us 
up  out  of  Egypt,  to  kill  us  and  our  children  and  our  cattle  with 
thirst .'"'  (Exod.  xvii.  3).  Again,  at  Sinai,  Moses  has  left  them 
but  for  a  few  short  weeks,  when  the  despairing  cry  arises:  "Up, 
make  us  a  god,  which  shall  go  before  us  ;  for  as  for  this  Moses, 
the  man  that  brought  us  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  we  wot 
not  what  is  become  of  him  "  (Exod.  xxxii.  i).  They  have  not 
fed  on  the  manna  for  much  more  than  a  year,  when  a  disgust 
takes  them  at  the  uniformity  of  their  diet,  and  its  want  of 
solidity  ;  so  they  "  wept,  and  said,  Who  shall  give  us  flesh  to 
'  Stanley,  "Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  144. 


I70  MOSES. 

eat  ?  We  remember  the  fish,  which  we  did  eat  in  Egypt  freely; 
the  cucumbers,  and  the  melons,  and  the  leeks,  and  the  onions, 
and  tlie  garlic.  But  now  our  soul  is  dried  away;  there  is 
nothing  at  all,  beside  this  manna,  before  our  eyes  "  (Numb.  xi. 
4-6).  Later,  when  the  spies  came  back  from  searching  the 
land,  and  gave  an  evil  report,  "  all  the  congregation  lifted  up 
their  voice  and  cried,  and  the  people  wept  that  night,  and  all 
the  children  of  Israel  murmured  against  Moses  and  against 
Aaron  ;  and  the  whole  congregation  said  unto  them,  Would 
God  that  we  had  died  in  the  land  of  Egypt  !  or,  Would  God  we 
had  died  in  this  wilderness  !  and  wherefore  hath  the  Lord 
brought  us  unto  this  land,  to  fall  by  the  sword,  that  our  wives 
and  our  children  should  be  a  prey?  Were  it  not  better  for  us 
to  return  to  Egypt  ?  And  they  said  one  to  another.  Let  us 
make  us  a  captain,  and  let  us  return  into  Egypt "  (Numb.  xiv. 
1-4).  It  is  needless  to  pursue  the  history.  The  whole  history 
of  Israel  in  the  wilderness  is  one  of  murmurings  and  rebellions, 
/<r whereby  they  repeatedly  provoked  God  so  that  He  would  have 
destroyed  them,  if  Moses  had  not  interceded  on  their  behalf. 
Never  was  a  civil  ruler  more  tried  by  the  perversity  of  his 
subjects  than  Moses  during  the  forty  years'  wanderings  in  the 
desert. 

And  in  his  troubles  he  had  little  human  help.  Jethro  indeed 
gave  him  wise  counsel  and  did  him  right  good  service  at 
Rephidim  (Exod.  xviii.  14-23)  ;  and  Hobab,  probably  Jethro's 
brother,  was  "  as  eyes  "  to  him  in  the  later  wanderings,  giving 
him  all  needful  topographical  information,  and  perhaps  notifying 
the  approach  of  Amalekites  or  other  marauders  (Numb.  x.  29-32). 
But  of  his  own  people  there  was  none  that  lent  him  any  valuable 
aid.  Aaron  in  the  wilderness  shrinks  back  into  that  subordinate 
position  from  which  he  only  emerged  for  a  time  in  consequence 
of  Moses'  undue  diffidence.  For  leadership  he  shows  no  capa- 
city, and  when  entrusted  with  it,  he  at  once  falls  into  a  grievous 
sin,  and  nearly  causes  the  destruction  of  the  whole  people 
through  want  of  faith  and  want  of  a  strong  firm  will  (Exod. 
xxxii.  1-6,  21-24),  He  failed  to  restrain  his  two  elder  sons, 
Nadab  and  Abihu,  when  they  sinned  against  God  by  "ofiering 
strange  fire  "  (Lev.  x.  1-3).  He  failed  to  restrain  Moses  at  the 
water  of  Meribah  (Num.b.  xx.  10-13).  When  Moses  married  a 
second  time,  and  offended  his  sister  thereby,  since  she  lost  the 
first  place  among  the  women  of  the  tribe,  Aaron  not  only  did 


MOSES   AS   RULER.  I?  I 

here 


not  check  her,  but  joined  with  her  against  his  brother.     1 
is  no  time  of  trouble  or  difticulty  during  the  wanderings  when 
Aaron  is  any  support  or  strength  to  Moses,  with  the  one  ex- 
ception of  the  fight  with  Anialek,  when  he  assists  in  upholding 
Moses'  hands.     As  for  Miriam,  after  the  Thanksgiving  song  on 
the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  she  disappears  from  sight,  and  only 
emerges  on  the  occasion  above  referred  to,  when  she  heads  the 
opposition  to  Moses,  ventures  to  "  speak  against  him  "  and  is 
punished  by  being  smitten  with  leprosy,  which  it  requires  the 
prayer  of  Moses  to  remove  (Numb.  xii.  1-13)-    Hur,  the  chief  of 
the  elders,  is,  like  Aaron,  of  use  on  one  occasion  only,  when  he 
joins  in  upholding  the  heavy  hands  of  the  aged  prophet  (Exod. 
xvii    12).     To  only  two  persons  in  the  entire  host  can  Moses  be 
said  to  have  been  indebted  for  real  valuable  help  and  assistance 
in  his  office  of  ruler.     Joshua,  the  son  of  Nun,  who  was  "  his 
minister,"  was  faithful  to  him  from  first  to  last.     Appointed  to 
the  command  against  Amalck,  he  gained  the  great  victory  of 
Rephidim.     He  went  up  with  his  master  into  the  mount  (Exod. 
xxiv.  13),  and  waited  for  him,  it  would  seem  in  solitude,  during 
the  weary  "forty  days,"  returning  with  him  when  he  came  down 
(Exod  xxxii.  17).     He  attended  on  xMoses  in  all  his  visits  to  the 
Tabernacle  (Exod.  xxxiii.  n).     He  bore  back  a  true  report  of 
the  land  and  people  of  Canaan,  and  interposed  to  check  the 
revolt  of  the  people  against  Moses,  thereby  endangering  his  own 
life  (Numb.  xiv.  6-10).     He  was  with  Moses  when  he  sang  his 
last  song   (Deut.  xxxii.  44)-     What  part  he  took  in  the  wars 
whereby  the  Trans-Jordanic  region  passed  into  the  possession 
of  Israel  is  uncertain  ;  but  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  he 
gave  Moses  important  aid  in  effecting  that  conquest. 

The  other  Israelite  from  whom  Moses  derived  some  real  help 
was  Phinehas,  his  great-nephew.  The  only  son,  so  far  as  we 
know,  of  Eleazar,  Aaron's  son  and  successor,  Phinehas  was, 
during  the  lifetime  of  his  father,  "  the  ruler  or  commander  of 
the  Levite  guard," '  and  a  man  of  indomitable  zeal  and  energy. 
When  Israel  in  Shittim  "began  to  commit  whoredom  with  the 
daughters  of  Moab,"he  distinguished  himself  by  ihrustingthrough 

with  a  javelin  two  of  those  whose  guilt  was  the  most  flagrant, 
without  waiting  to  receive  any  direct  con.mand  so  to  act  (Numb. 
XXV.  6-8),  thereby  stopping  the  plague  which  had  already  begun 
among  the  people  (Ps.  cvi.  30).  When  a  priest  was  wanted  to 
'  Stanley,    "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  227. 


172  MOSES. 

accompany  the  expedition  against  the  Midianites,  no  one  seemed 
so  fit  as  Phinehas  for  the  purpose  (Numb.  xxxi.  i-6).  Moses 
must  have  felt  that  he  had  in  Phinehas  a  subordinate  thoroughly 
to  be  depended  on,  one  who  might  be  trusted  to  undertake  any 
task  that  he  might  be  set,  and  to  act  boldly  on  his  own  respon- 
sibility at  a  crisis. 

But  though  scantly  aided  by  man  in  the  execution  of  his 
difficult  task,  Moses  had  one  unfailing  resource.  He  could,  and 
he  did  continually,  throughout  all  his  troubles,  turn  to  God. 
The  "  theocracy  "  of  Israel  in  the  time  of  Moses  was  no  mere 
nominal  and  unmeaning  thing,  but  a  most  important  reality. 
It  was  not  a  government  by  priests  as  opposed  to  kings  ;  it  was 
a  government  by  God  Himself  as  opposed  to  man.  Moses 
could  and  did  confer  directly  with  God  on  all  matters  of  high 
importance,  and  received  instructions  from  Him  how  to  act. 

'^r  It  was  in  his  power,  whenever  he  pleased,  to  enter  into  the 
Tabernacle,  and  there  converse  with  God  face  to  face,  as  a 
man  speaks  with  his  friend  (Exod.  xxxiii.  ii  ;  Deut.  xxxiv.  lo). 
When  the  daughters  of  Zelophehad  came  to  him,  and  desired 
an  inheritance  among  their  brethren,  Moses  "brought  their 
cause  before  the  Lord"  (Numb,  xxvii.  5),  and  received  distinct 
directions  how  to  decide  it.  And  there  is  ample  reason  to 
believe  that  in  so  doing  he  was  only  following  his  usual  practice. 
In  the  chief  troubles — the  murmurings  and  rebellions — there 
was,  however,  scarcely  time  for  this  formal  method  of  consulta- 
tion, and  a  shorter  one  appears  to  have  been  pursued.  Moses 
"cried  to  God"  from  the  spot  where  he  happened  to  be  standing 
at  the  time  (Exod.  xvii.  4  ;  Numb.  xiv.  5,(S:c.),and  God  interposed, 
and  in  some  way  or  other  made  His  will  known  both  to  him 
and  to  the  people.  Or  God  took  the  matter  entirely  into  His 
own  hand,  and  brought  the  people  back  to  their  obedience  by  a 
judgment,  which  proceeded  suddenly  and  without  warning  from 
Himself  (Numb.  xvi.  46).  What  is  most  remarkable  in  the  con- 
duct of  Moses  as  ruler  is  his  extreme  mildness  and  forgivingness. 
Twice  only  does  he  himself  execute  judgment,  each  time  to 
vindicate  God's  honour — once  when  the  idolatrous  orgy  is  going 
on  before  the  golden  calf,  and  once  again  when  the  people  have 

/  "joined  themselves  to  Baal-Peor"  (Numb.  xxv.  3).  On  all  other 
occasions  the  punishment  comes  straight  from  God,  and  Moses 
in  almost  every  instance  deprecates  it,  intercedes  with  God 
on  behalf  of  the  objects  of  it,  and  generally  obtains  a  remission. 


MOSES   AS    RULER.  1 73 

He  is  the  least  ex.ictint^  and  llie  most  unselfish  of  rulers.  He 
requires  nothing  for  his  own  glory,  no  crown,  no  throne,  no 
title,  no  prostration,  no  honour.  God  gives  him  an  honour, 
in  the  radiance  of  his  face,  and  for  the  most  part  he  veils 
it.  He  asks  nothing  for  his  children.  Gcrshom  and  Eliezer 
do  not  emerge  from  the  rank  of  ordinary  Israelites,  or  obtain 
the  slightest  privilege  or  precedence  because  they  are  his 
sons.  The  priestly  functions  are  assigned,  not  to  them,  but 
to  the  offspring  of  his  brother,  Aaron,  while  his  own  de- 
scendants scarcely  obtain  any  mention  in  the  later  history. 
The  leadership  passes,  with  the  full  consent  of  Moses,  to 
Joshua.  The  aspirations  of  Moses  are  after  the  spiritual,  not 
after  the  temporal  ;  and  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  general 
tenor  of  his  desires,  that  he  has  descended  to  later  ages,  not  as 
the  Great  Sheikh,  not  as  the  Ruler  or  Judge,  not  even  as  the 
Law-giver,  but  as  "  Moses,  the  man  of  God"  (Deut.  xxxiii,  i  ; 
Ps.  xc.  title),  "  Moses,  the  servant  of  the  Lord  "  (Numb.  xii.  8  ; 
Deut.  xxxiv.  5  ;  Josh.  i.  i,  &c.),  ''  Moses,  the  Prophet,  whom  the 
Lord  knew  face  to  face  "  (Deut.  xxxiv.  lo). 


CHAPTER  XV. 

LATER  YEARS   OF   MOSES. 

Departure  of  the  Israelites  from  Sinai — Route  to  Kadesh-Barnea — Kibroth- 
hattaavah  and  the  troubles  there — Hazeroth  and  the  sin  of  Miriam — 
First  arrival  at  Kadesh — The  spies  and  their  report — The  sin  of  the 
people  and  the  sentence  on  it — Israel  smitten  by  Amalek — The  thirty- 
eight  years  of  penal  wandering — Israel  hardened  and  braced  by  them — 
Rebellion  of  Korah  and  its  consequences — Return  to  Kadesh — Death 
of  Miriam — Sin  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  death  of  Aaron — War  with 
Arad — "War  with  the  Amorites — Sihon — Og — Conquest  of  the  Trans- 
jordanic  region — War  with  Midian  and  Moab — Part  taken  in  it  by 
Balaam — Moses  at  Abel-Shittim — He  exhorts  the  people — His  appoint- 
ment of  Joshua  as  his  successor — His  injunctions  respecting  the  Book 
of  the  Law — His  last  words — ^The  Song  of  Warning — The  Song  of 
Blessing — Extracts. 

When  the  legislation  of  Sinai  was  complete,  Moses,  by  the 
Divine  command,  proceeded  to  conduct  the  Israelites  from  the 
plain  Er-Rahah,  at  the  foot  of  Ras-Sufsafeh,  to  the  Holy  Land. 
The  journey  was  directed,  in  the  first  instance,  upon  Kadesh- 
Barnea  (or  Kadesh),  the  exact  location  of  which  is  uncertain. 
It  is  not  intended  in  the  present  sketch  of  Moses'  Life  and 
Times  to  discuss  geographical  problems,  much  less  to  propound 
new  theories  in  connection  with  any  of  them.  It  will  be  enough 
to  point  out  the  general  direction  of  the  route  which  Israel  fol- 
lowed, and  to  indicate  the  most  probable  position  of  the  chief 
resting-places.  Kadesh-Barnea  then  was  clearly  in  the  region 
north-east  of  the  wilderness  of  El-Tij,  the  tract  commonly 
known  to  the  Hebrews  as  the  "Negeb"  or  "South  country," 
because  it  bordered  Palestine  upon  the  south.  All  the  Biblical 
notices   tend   to  place  it  in  the  more  eastern  portion  of  this 


LATER  YEARS  OF  MOSES.  175 

region,  not  far  from  the  great  valley  of  the  Arabah.  To  reach 
it  Moses  had  to  take  his  journey  towards  the  north-east,  and  his 
earlier  route  would  thus  have  hini  along  the  valleys  which  lie 
outside  the  Tij,  between  it  and  the  Elanitic  Gulf  or  eastern  arm 
of  the  Red  Sea. 

The    first    important    resting-place    was    Kibroth-hattaavah, 
either   Erweis-el-Kbeirig,  thirty  miles  north-east  of    Sinai,  or 
some  spot  not  very  distant  from  it.     Here  began  the  troubles  of 
the  journey.     First,  complaints  broke  out  among  the  people, 
probably  at  the  heat,  the  toil,  and  the  privations  of  the  march, 
and  these  God  at  once  punished  by  lightning,  which  fell  on  the 
hinder  part  of  the  camp,  and  killed  many  persons  ;  but  ceased  at^ 
the  intercession  of  Moses  (Numb.  xi.  i,  2).  Then,  a  disgust  fell  on 
the  multitude  at  having  nothing  to  eat  but  the  manna  day  after 
day — no  change,  no  flesh,  no  fish,  no  high-flavoured  vegetables, 
no  luscious  fruits,  no  cucumbers  or  melons,  no  onions,  or  garlic, 
or  leeks.    The  people  loathed  the  "  light  food,"  and  cried  out  to 
Moses,  "  Give  us  flesh,  give  us  flesh,  that  we  may  eat  ! "     Here 
for  once  the  heroic  leader  seems  to   have  despaired.     What 
should  he  do  to  content  the  cry.?    Should  he  order  the  slaughter 
of  all  the  flocks  and  herds,  and  thus  leave  the  people  without 
offerings  for  sacrifice,  or  milk  for  daily  use,  or  curds,  or  butter, 
or  cheese }     Or  should  he  take  them  to  the  shore  of  the  neigh- 
bouring sea,  and  set  them  to  catch,  or  to  purchase  from  the 
Arab    fishermen,   all   the    fish    with  which   the    Elanitic    Gulf 
abounded,  and  so  feast  them  on  the  sort  of  food  which  they 
required?     Or  what  other  course  should  he  take?     In  his  per- 
plexity he  felt  that  the  burden  imposed  on  him  was  too  great — 
"  I  am  not  able  to  bear  all  this  people  alone,"  he  said,  "because 
it  is  too  heavy  for  me  " — and  he  prayed  that  God  would  kill  him,  ^ 
that  he  might  no  longer  experience  such  wretchedness  (Numb. 
xi.  4-15).    The  despairing  cry  elicited  a  double  response.    First 
the  seventy  elders  were  given  a  portion  of  Moses'  spirit,  and 
appointed  to  bear  the  burden  of  the  people  with  him  (ver.  17)  ; 
and  secondly,  a  prodigious  flight  of  quails  was  sent,  on  which 
the  people  satiated  their  gluttonous  appetite  for  a  full  month. 
Then  pimishment  fell  on  them  ;  they  loathed  the  food  which 
they  had  desired  ;  it  bred  disease  in  them  ;  the   Divine  anger 
aggravated  the  disease  into  a  plague,  and  a   heavy  mortality 
was  the  consequence.    The  dead  were  buried  without  the  camp ; 
and  in  memory  of  man's  sin  and  of  the  Divine  wrath,  the  name 


V 


1/6  MOSES. 

of  Kibroth-hattaavah — "the  Graves  of  Lust" — was  given  to  the 
place  of  their  sepulchre  (ver.  34). 

At  the  second  resting-place,  Hazeroth,  a  third  trouble  occurred. 
Zipporah  being  (as  is  generally  supposed)  dead,  Moses  had 
married  again,  and  this  time  had  taken  to  wife  "  an  Ethiopian 
woman"  (Numb.  xii.  i).  ]\Iany  of  the  Arab  tribes  were  de- 
scended from  Cush  (Gen.  x.  7),  and  thus  Moses,  as  he  traversed 
the  desert,  might  readily  fall  in  with  a  tribe  of  Cushite  Arabs, 
and  choose  a  wife  from  among  them.  No  law,  divine  or 
human,  forbade  such  a  marriage.  Miriam,  however,  who, 
on  the  death  of  Zipporah  would  have  become  the  woman 
of  the  highest  dignity  in  the  tribe,  disliked  the  thought  of 
descending  from  her  exalted  position,  and,  having  persuaded 
Aaron  to  take  part  with  her, assumed  an  attitude  of  coldness  and 
hostility  to  Moses.  "  Miriam  and  Aaron  spake  against  Moses, 
and  said.  Hath  the  Lord  indeed  spoken  only  by  Moses.'*  hath 
he  not  spoken  also  by  us.''"  The  claim  set  up  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  absolute  equality  with  the  true  leader  of  the  people, 
and  its  allowance  would  have  been  destructive  of  Moses'  just 
authority,  besides  striking  at  the  root  of  the  Theocracy,  which 
was  practically  maintained  solely  through  the  right  of  Moses  to 
enter  the  Tabernacle,  and  there  see  and  consult  with  God  face 
to  face.  It  was  a  crisis  which  called  on  Moses  to  lay  aside  the 
"  meekness"  that  characterized  him,  and  to  boldly  assert  his 
rights.  But  he  could  not  bring  himself  so  to  act.  Nature  was 
too  strong  for  him,  and  apparently  he  would  have  acquiesced 
in  the  usurpation.  God,  however,  interfered.  He  would  not 
have  His  "faithful  servant"  deposed  from  his  high  station,  in- 
sjlted,  vilified,  "  spoken  against."  Miriam,  therefore,  as  the  chief 
sinner,  the  originator  of  the  rebellion,  was  suddenly  stricken  with 
leprosy  in  the  sight  of  all  the  congregation,  and  stood  before 
them  "as  one  dead,"  with  her  flesh  already  "  half  consumed,"  a 
miserable  picture  of  disease  and  impurity ;  loathsome  to  be- 
hold, and  an  object  from  which  all  instinctively  shrank.  Natu- 
rally Aaron,  who  was  nearly  as  guilty,  felt  inexpressedly  shocked, 
and  entreated  Moses  to  intercede  for  the  miserable  woman, 
whom  God,  on  Moses'  prayer,  restored.  The  honour  of  Moses 
was  thus  vindicated  by  his  Almighty  Master  ;  and  the  journey 
of  the  people  was  continued  from  Hazeroth  through  the  wilder- 
ness of  Paran  to  Kadesh  (Numb.  xiii.  26). 

The  vicinity  of  the  Holy  Land  was  now  reached.     The  wan- 


LATER   YEARS   OF   MOSES.  177 

derings  seemed  to  be  approaching  their  close.  Within  fifteen 
months  of  their  quitting  Egypt,  the  Israchtes  had  arrived  at  the 
south-eastern  ed:_;e  of  the  Negeb,  and  were  probably  within  fifty 
miles  of  Beersheba,  and  within  about  the  same  distance  from 
the  southern  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea.  It  was  full  summer,  pro- 
bably about  the  end  of  July  or  the  beijinnmg  of  August  (ver.  20), 
Palestine  mii^ht  at  once  have  been  occupied,  or  its  conquest  at 
any  rate  commenced,  if  the  people  had  had  faith.  But,  on  the 
near  approach  of  danger,  their  hearts  failed  them,  and  they  ex- 
pressed to  Moses  their  desire  of  sending  men  to  bring  a  report 
concerning  the  land  and  its  inhabitants  before  they  ventured  on 
invasion  (Deut.  i.  22).  As  the  request  seemed  not  wholly  unrea- 
sonable, it  was  granted  ;  and-  the  "  twelve  spies  "  went  up  to 
search  out  the  land,  and  bring  word  concerning  it,  what  it  was, 
whether  good  or  bad,  fat  or  lean  ;  and  concerning  the  people, 
whether  they  were  strong  or  weak,  few  or  many,  and  whether 
they  dwelt  in  cities,  or  in  tents,  or  in  strongholds  (Numb.  xiii. 
18-20).  On  the  return  of  the  "twelve,"  a  double  report  was 
made.  It  was  generally  agreed  that  the  land  was  "a  good  land," 
"a  land  which  flowed  with  milk  and  honey."  Joshua  and  Caleb 
maintained  that  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  conquering  it, 
while  the  remainder  of  the  spies  represented  the  difficulties  as 
enormous  and  insuperable.  The  cities,  they  said,  were  "very 
great,"  "  walled  up  to  heaven,"  and  the  people  were  "  men  of  a 
great  stature,"  "taller  and  stronger"  than  the  Israelites,  "giants" 
many  of  them,  "  sons  of  Anak,"  compared  with  whom  the 
Hebrews  were  but  "as  grasshoppers"  (vers.  31-33).  It  need 
not  surprise  us  that  the  people,  already  hesitating,  accepted  the 
discouraging  report,  and  gave  themselves  up  to  despair.  They 
had  come  all  the  long  weary  way  from  Egypt,  four  hundred  miles 
at  least  by  the  route  which  they  had  followed,  in  the  hope  of 
possessing  themselves  easily  of  the  land  promised  to  them  ;  and 
now  it  appeared  that  the  possession  would  be  hotly  disputed, 
and  that  instead  of  effecting  a  rapid  conquest,  they  would  pro- 
bably "  fall  by  the  sword,"  and  their  wives  and  children  "  be  a 
prey"  (Numb.  xiv.  3).  The  prospect  was  too  bitter.  It  caused 
them  for  a  brief  space  to  waver  in  their  allegiance  to  Moses. 
The  cry  arose — "Let  us  make  a  captain,  and  let  us  return  to 
Egypt."  In  vain  did  Joshua  and  Caleb  endeavour  to  "  still  the 
people,"  and  to  persuade  them  that  the  Canaanites  were  not  so 
greatly  to  be  feared  ;  that  with  God's  blessing  the  land  might 

13 


178  MOSES. 

be  conquered,  and  the  conquest  mifj^ht  not  even  be  very  difficult. 
The  people  would  not  Hsten,  and  were  on  the  point  of  stoning 
them  to  death  (ver.  io\  when  God  intervened.  '"The  glory  of 
the  Lord  appeared  in  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation  before 
all  the  children  of  Israel."     A  death  sentence  was  pronounced, 

^  and  the  execution  was  begun — the  faithless  and  untruthful  spies 
were  smitten  by  a  plague,  and  died  suddenly  (ver.  37) — the  fate 
of  the  people  trembled  in  the  balance,  when  once  more  Moses 
interceded  and  prevailed.  God  modified  the  death  sentence 
into  one  of  simple  exclusion  from  Palestine,  and  condemned  the 
rebels  to  an  aimless  wandering  for  thirty-eight  more  years  in  the 
wilderness,  until  the  whole  guilty  generation  of  those  who  had 
murmured  and  rebelled  should  have  died  out  and  their  place 
have  been  taken  by  their  children. 

But, before  the  wanderings  recommenced,  the  Israelites  caused 
Moses  a  fresh  trouble,  and  gav^e  another  specimen  of  their  per- 
versity. Having  first  sinned  by  too  much  distrust  and  timidity, 
they  would  set  the  balance  straight  by  sinning  a  second  time 
through  too  much  boldness  and  self-confidence.  God  had  com- 
manded a  backward  movement  by  way  of  the  "  wilderness  of 
the  Red  Sea"  (ver.  25).  In  the  teeth  of  this  order,  they  would 
go  up  from  Kadesh-Barnea  to  the  higher  region  of  the  Negeb, 
ar.d  there  attack  the  tribes  in  possession  and  seek  to  occupy 
their  country.  Moses  warned  them  that  the  attempt  would  fail, 
and  that  they  would  be  "  smitten  before  their  enemies  ;  "  but 
they  would  not  listen  to  him.  They  "presumed  to  go  up  into 
the  hill  country,"  without  the  Ark  of  God,  and  without  the  sanc- 
tion of  Moses  ;  and  the  result  was  as  he  had  prophesied.  Their 
old  enemy,  the  Amalekites,  and  the  other  Canaanitish  tribes  of 
the  district,  resisted  them  and  inflicted  on  them  a  severe  defeat — 

/they  were  "smitten"  and  "discomfited,  even  unto  Hormah" 
(ver.  45). 

The  wanderings  were  now  resumed.  It  is  impossible  to  follow 
them.  Seventeen  stations  are  mentioned,  where  the  ark  rested 
for  a  while  between  the  departure  from  Kadesh-Barnea  and  the 
return  to  it  (Numb,  xxxiii.  19-36).  Most  of  these  stations  are 
wholly  unknown,  and  can  only  be  located  conjecturally,  either 
in  the  Tij,  or  in  the  tract  between  the  Tij  and  the  eastern  shore 
of  the  Elanitic  Gulf.  The  history  during  the  period  of  thirty- 
eight  years  is  almost  a  blank.  Moses  passes  it  over  as  a  dreary 
time,  during  which  no  progress  was  made — "a  period  of  reaction, 


LATER    YEARS   OF    MOSFS.  1 79 

and  contradiction,  and  failure."  '  It  was  not,  however,  entirely 
sterile  of  results.  During  the  whole  of  it  the  nation  was  under- 
going a  discipline,  and  becoming  stronger,  harilier,  woriliier. 
The  slave  ternper  was  passing  away  ;  the  actual  slaves,  timid 
and  sensual,  that  had  come  out  of  Egypt  were  dying  off,  their 
deaths  divinely  hastened  (Xumb.  xiv.  32-351,  and  were  being 
replaced  by  a  generation  of  a  firnier_fibre,  bred  up  in  the  bracing 
air  of  the  desert,  in  simple  habits,  with  healthful  surroundings, 
and  under  the  influence  of  a  pure  and  spiritual  religion.  Further, 
it  may  well  be  that  during  the  time  they  had  encounters,  per-  ^ 
haps  frequent  encounters,  though  they  are  not  mentioned,  with 
the  native  tribes  of  the  desert  —  Sati,  Mentu,  Amalekites, 
Amorites,  and  others.  The  Amalekite  victory,  recorded  in 
Numb.  xiv.  45,  must  have  greatly  encouraged  the  tribes  gener- 
ally to  offer  a  resistance  ;  and  we  may  be  tolerably  sure  that 
they  did  not  allow  their  best  lands  to  be  occupied  year  after 
year  by  an  alien  race,  without  venting  on  the  intruders  that  ill- 
will,  which  is  always  felt  by  nomads  against  those  who  interfere 
with  pastures  which  they  consider  their  own.  The  passage  of 
an  alien  tribe  bent  on  making  their  way  rapidly  from  Egypt  to 
Palestine  might  have  been  borne  ;  but  when  the  tribe  seemed  to 
settle  down  permanently  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  peninsula, 
and  to  make  itself  a  home  there,  which  is  what  the  Israelites 
did,  jealousy  must  necessarily  have  been  aroused,  and  the  en- 
forcement of  proprietary  rights  must  have  led,  at  any  rate,  to 
occasional  collisions. 

A  very  few  events  are  distinctly  assignable  to  this  period.  The 
most  important  is  the  joint  rebellion  of  the  two  tribes,  Reuben  ^ 
and  Levi.  Korah,  a  Kohathite  Levite,  first  cousin  to  Moses  and  ^ 
Aaron,  together  with  Dathan,  Abiram,  and  On,  three  chiefs  of 
Reuben,  persuaded  their  fellow-iribesmen  to  rise  up  in  revolt 
against  Moses,  and  to  question  the  very  basis  of  his  authority. 
The  Reubenite  chiefs,  no  doubt,  intended  to  assert  the  right  of 
their  tribe,  as  the  eldest  born  of  Israel,  to  hold  the  reins  of  civil 
government,  while  Korah,  and  the  Levites  who  abetted  him, 
disputed  the  claim  of  Aaron  and  his  sons  to  the  special  privi- 
leges of  the  priesthood.  An  insolent  demeanour  was  assumed  ; 
disrespectful  language  was  used  ;  the  commands  of  Moses  were 
disobeyed  and  openly  set  at  nought  ;  and  a  condition  of  things 
was  brought  about,  which,  if  unchecked,  would  have  resulted  in 
*  Stanley,   "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  180. 


l8o  MOSES. 

absolute  anarchy  and  confusion.  Moses,  under  the  circum- 
stances, did  not  attempt  to  punish  the  rebels  himself,  but  made 
appeal  to  Jehovah.  Korah  and  his  company  should  take  censers 
and  put  incense  in  them,  and  approach  near  to  the  Tabernacle  to 
perform  the  priestly  duty  of  offering  it,  and  they  should  see 
whether  God  would  accept  their  offering,  and  so  endorse  their 
claim,  or  whether  He  would  reject  it.  Dathan  and  Abiram  were 
summoned  to  attend  and  see  what  would  happen  ;  but  they  re- 
fused and  remained  at  their  tent  doors,  with  their  adherents. 
Hereupon  there  fell  upon  the  rebels  a  double  punishment.  Moses 
having  first  warned  the  congregation  to  remove  from  the  vici- 
nity of  the  Reubenite  leaders'  tents,  the  earth  suddenly  gaped 
and  swallowed  up  the  ringleaders  and  those  about  them,  while 
at  the  same  time  a  fire  burst  forth  from  the  Tabernacle  of  the 
congregation,  and  utterly  consumed  the  ambitious  Levites  who 
were  gathered  in  front  of  it  to  offer  their  incense  (Numb.  xvi. 
1-35).  Their  censers  were  collected  by  the  order  of  Moses,  and 
made  into  "  broad  plates  for  a  covering  of  the  altar,"  as  a 
memorial  of  the  transaction,  and  a  solemn  warning  to  future 
generations,  that  they  might  not  "  perish  in  the  gainsaying  of 
Korah"  (Jude,  ver.  13). 

The  partial  rebellion  of  these  two  tribes  was  followed  by  a 
general  outburst  of  discontent,  which  brought  once  more  into 
^eopardy  the  very  existence  of  the  Hebrew  nation.  "  On  the 
morrow  all  the  congregatio7t  of  the  children  of  Israel  murmured 
against  Moses  and  against  Aaron,  saying,  Ye  have  killed  the 
people  of  the  Lord"  (Numb.  xvi.  41).  The  Divine  anger  was 
necessarily  provoked  by  the  senseless  and  blasphemous  charge, 
which  attributed  to  Moses  and  Aaron  as  a  crime  what  God  had 
done  by  way  of  just  punishment  ;  and  the  complete  destruction 
of  the  entire  congregation  would  have  followed,  had  not  Moses 
again  promptly  interposed.  Moses  ordered  an  atonement  to  be 
made  ;  and  it  was  made  by  Aaron  as  quickly  as  was  possible  ;  but 
the  plague  had  already  gone  forth,  and  the  "  murmuring  "  had 
cost  fourteen  thousand  seven  hundred  lives  (Numb.  xvi.  49). 

After  thirty-eight  years  of  weary  wanderings,  during  which  the 
people  spread  themselves  widely  in  search  of  pasture  for  their 
flocks,  and  the  tabernacle  moved  from  place  to  place  among 
them,  the  pillar  of  the  cloud  once  more  brought  the  ark  to 
Kadesh,  and  there  was  a  general  collection  of  the  congregation 
to  that  locality  (Numb.  xx.  i).     During  the  stay  here  Miriam 


LATER  YEARS  OF  MOSES.  l8l 

died.  It  was  the  first  loss  from  amonj^  his  own  kith  and  kin,  so 
far  as  we  know,  that  Moses  had  suffered,  the  first  break  in  the 
small  family  circle  which  had  come  with  him  out  of  Ej:jypt. 
Miriam  must  have  been  an  aged  woman,  a  hundred  and  thirty 
years  old  or  more.  Her  sisterly  duties  had  been  faithfully  dis- 
charged, except  on  one  occasion  (Numb.  xii.  i)  ;  and  Moses 
must  have  severely  felt  her  loss.  It  is  among  the  chief  griefs  of 
old  age,  that  the  friends  of  our  youth  drop  off  one  by  one,  and 
leave  us  more  and  more  companionless,  until  at  last  we  are 
wholly  solitary.  Moses,  according  to  Josephus,  mourned  for 
Miriam  during  the  space  of  thirty  days,  and  honoured  her  with 
a  costly  public  funeral,  in  which  all  the  people  took  part.'  Her 
grave,  according  to  him,  was  on  the  summit  of  a  hill  called  Sin, 
which  must  have  been  in  the  near  vicinity  of  Kadesh,  though 
later  tradition  places  it  not  far  from  Petra.^ 

Another  death  followed  shortly  that  of  Miriam.  During  the 
stay  at  Kadesh,  which  was  of  many  months'  duration,  the  springs 
of  the  neighbourhood  had  proved  insufficient  for  the  collected 
nation,  and  fresh  murmurings  having  arisen,  Moses  and  Aaron 
had  been  commanded  to  give  the  people  to  drink  by  "  speaking 
to  the  rock  before  their  eyes,"  which  would  then  gush  out  with 
abundant  water,  sufficient  both  for  the  congregation,  and  for 
their  cattle.  In  their  method  of  carrying  out  this  command, 
Moses  and  Aaron  alike  offended  God.  Instead  of  giving  Him 
the  glory,  and  "  sanctifying  Him  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  of 
Israel,"  they  took  the  credit  of  the  action  to  themselves,  as 
though  it  was  done  by  their  own  power  and  will.  "  Hear 
now,"  they  said,  "  ye  rebels,  must  we  fetch  you  water  out  oi 
this  rock  '^.  "  And  then,  instead  of  "  speaking  to  the  rock  "  in 
God's  name,  Moses  angrily  "  smote  it  twice,"  as  though  to  com- 
pel it  to  give  up  its  treasures.  For  this  misconduct,  this  "  un- 
advised speaking"  (Ps.  cvi.  33)  and  rash  action,  a  sentence  was 
at  once  pronounced  upon  both — "  Because  ye  believed  Me  not 
to  sanctify  me  in  the  eyes  of  the  children  of  Israel,  therefore  ye 
shall  not  bring  this  congregation  into  the  land  which  I  have 
given  them"  (Xumb.  xx.  12);  and,  a  little  later,  the  further 
announcement  was  made  with  respect  to  Aaron — "Aaron  shall 
be  gathered  unto  his  people  ;  he  shall  not  enter  into  the  land 
which  I  have  given  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  because  ye  re- 

*  Josephus,  "  Ant.  Jud.,"  iv.  4,  \  6. 

•  Jerome,  "  Onomasticon,"  ad  voc.  Cades-Bame. 


l82  MOSES. 

belled  against  My  word  at  the  waters  of  Meribah  "  (Numb.  xx. 
24).  The  Israelites  had  reached  Mount  Hor  at  this  time — pro- 
bably Jebel  Madurah/  and  there,  ''  in  the  top  of  the  mount," 
having  first  transferred  his  priestly  garments  to  his  son  Eleazar 
in  the  sight  of  all  the  people,  Aaron  died — the  first,  and  perhaps 
tiie  saintliest  of  the  long  line  of  high  priests,  passed  away,  for- 
bidden to  enter  the  Promised  Land,  but  allowed  to  see  its  outer- 
most skirts,  and  to  die  with  his  eye  resting  upon  those  northern 
hills,  behind  which  lay  Hebron,  and  Jebus,  and  the  Dead  Sea, 
and  the  rich  Jordan  valley,  and  the  land  flowing  with  milk  and 
honey,  the  land  of  wheat  and  barley,  and  vines,  and  fig-trees, 
and  pomegranates— the  land  whose  stones  were  iron,  and  out  of 
whose  hills  men  might  dig  brass  (Deut.  viii.  8,  9).  Aaron,  like 
Miriam,  was  mourned  for  thirty  days  (Numb.  xx.  29). 

The  Great  Leader  was  now  left  alone — "  the  youngest,  the 
greatest,  and  the  only  remaining  child  of  the  family  of  Amram.''^* 
He  was  alone,  and  he  must  have  known  that  his  career  drew 
towards  its  close  ;  but  his  spirit  was  undaunted.  Physically  and 
mentally  he  retained  his  vigour — *' his  eye  was  not  dim,  neither 
his  n  itural  force  abated  "  (Deut.  xxxiv.  7).  It  is  in  the  final  year 
of  his  life  that  he  renews  those  miHtary  glories  which  had  gilded 
his  early  manhood,  and  becomes  the  successful  commander  in 
three  great  wars,  and  the  conqueror  of  Eastern  Palestine.  As 
the  forty  years  of  enforced  wandering  (Numb.  xiv.  34)  approached 
their  term,  the  march  on  Palestine  had  to  be  resumed,  and 
various  hostile  nations  had  to  be  encountered  one  after  another. 
)/  The  firbt  struggle  seems  to  have  been  with  Arad,  a  Caananite 
monarch,  whose  country  was  probably  the  tract  about  the 
m  )dern  Tel  Arad,  which  is  between  Beersheba  and  the  southern 
end  of  the  Dead  Sea.  If  Mount  Hor  is  Jebel  Madurah,  and  if 
Israel  had  advanced  thither  in  expectation  of  being  permitted  to 
pass  through  the  Edomite  territory,  we  can  understand  that 
Aviid  would  be  alarmed,  and  would  imagine  that  his  country  was 
about  to  be  invaded.  He  therefore,  it  would  seem,  took  the 
offensive  (Numb.  xxi.  i),  attacked  Israel,  and  at  first  gained 
some  advantage,  but  was  shortly  afterwards  delivered  into  their 
hand,  his  land  ravaged,  and  Lis  cities  utterly  destroyed" 
(ver.  3). 

The   next  war  was  with  the  Amorites.     Forbidden   by  the 

*  See  Dr.  Trumbull's  "  Kadesh-Barnea,"  pp.  127-139. 

*  Stanley,  "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,''  vol.  i,  p.  185. 


LATER   YEARS   OF   MOSES.  I83 

Edomites  to  traverse  their  country,  the  Hebrews  retired  south- 
ward, and  avoiding  Edomite  territory,  marched  from  Mount 
Hor  to  Ezion-Geber,  at  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  Akabah,  and 
rounding  the  granite  range  of  Mount  Seir,  passed  by  the  VVady 
Ithan  along  its  eastern  flank,  till  they  reached  a  tract  of  country 
which  the  Amorites  had  recently  taken  from  the  people  of  Moab. 
The  tract  was  that  between  the  Arnon  and  the  Jabbok,  to  the 
east  of  thcHK^i*  Sea  and  of  the  Lower  Jordan,  a  highland  region 
of  extreme  fertility,  consisting  of  "  a  wide  tableland  tossed  about 
in  wild  confusion  of  undulating  downs,  clothed  with  rich  grass 
throughout," '  and  in  spring  waving  with  great  sheets  of  wheat 
and  barley,  in  summer  and  autumn  bringing  to  perfection  vast 
quantities  of  grapes.  Here,  encamped  upon  the  Arnon  (Numb. 
xxi.  13),  Israel  sent  messengers  to  Sihon,  king  of  the  Amorites, 
asking  a  passage  through  his  country,  which  was  refused.  War 
followed.  Sihon  gathered  together  his  forces  at  Jahaz,  a  strong 
city  not  far  north  of  the  Arnon,  "  on  the  confines  of  the  rich  pas- 
tures of  Moab  and  the  desert  whence  the  Israelites  emerged," 
and  offered  battle  to  the  Israelites,  which  they  were  not  slow  to 
accept.  Israel  began  the  attack.  Charging  the  Amorites  with 
great  force  and  courage,  they  almost  immediately  produced 
among  them  a  panic  terror,  which  threw  the  whole  host  into 
disorder.  Sihon  was  seized  with  alarm,  and  regretted  that  he 
had  not  stood  on  the  defensive  behind  the  strong  walls  of  his 
numerous  towns.  The  Israelites,  seeing  theiradvantage,  pressed 
on  with  vigour  ;  "  their  slingers  and  their  archers,  afterwards  so 
renowned,  now  first  showed  their  skill."  ^  Sihon  fell  ;  the  army 
broke  up  and  fled,  pursued  by  their  active  foe,  who  allowed  them 
no  respite.  Some  of  the  fugitives  broke  off  from  the  main  body, 
and  made  for  the  nearest  cities,  but  were  mostly  shot  down  ere 
they  could  reach  them.  Those  who  kept  together,  retreating 
hastily  under  a  hot  sun,  suffered  greatly  from  thirst,  and  at  last 
coming  upon  a  watercourse,  descended  into  it  to  drink,  and,  like 
the  Athenians  in  their  flight  from  Syracuse,  were  slaughtered  in 
the  bed  of  the  stream.  The  army  was  not  only  defeated  but 
annihilated.  There  was  no  more  resistance.  The  entire 
country  between  the  Arnon  and  the  Jabbok  submitted  to  the 
conquerors  ;  the  cities  opened  their  gates,  "  Heshbon,  and  its 
daughters,"  Jahaz,  and  Dibon,  and  Medeba,  and  Elealeh,  and 

*  Stanley,  "Sinai  and  Palestine,"  p.  314. 

"  Stanley,  "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  213. 


l84  MOSES. 

Baal-meon,  and  Kir-hareseth,  and  Horonaim  (Numb.  xxi.  24, 
25).  No  wonder  that  a  song  of  triumph  went  up  from  the 
triumphant  host — 

"  We  have  shot  at  them  :  Heshbon  is  perished  ; 
We  have  laid  them  waste,  even  unto  Nophah  ; 
With  fire  :  even  unto  Medeba.''  * 

After  the  defeat  of  Sihon,  and  the  conquest  of  the  entire  tract 
between  the  Arnon  and  the  Jabbok,  a  war  followed  with  Og,  who 
had  been  Sihon's  ally,  and  who  was,  like  him,  an  Amorite 
(Deut.  iii.  8).  Og's  territory  was  the  far-spreading  and  delightful 
region,  known  as  Bashan,  which  reached  from  the  Jabbok  upon 
the  south  to  the  flanks  of  Hermonupon  the  north,  and  extended 
eastward  so  as  to  include  the  Ledja,  or  district  of  Argob,  which 
is  a  stony  tract,  rising  suddenly  from  the  fertile  plain — formed  of 
a  sort  of  "  ocean  of  basaltic  rocks  and  boulders,  tossed  about  in 
the  wildest  confusion,  and  intermingled  with  fissures  and  crevices 
in  every  direction."  ^  Bashan,  apart  from  Argob,  is  a  rich  and 
well- wooded  country,  abounding  with  forests  of  oak  and  other 
trees,  and  producing  abundant  wheat,  barley,  and  olives.  It  is 
-he  most  picturesque  portion  of  the  Holy  Land.  "  The  traveller 
rides  up  and  down  deep  concealed  dells,  sometimes  by  a  track 
meandering  along  the  banks  of  a  brook,  with  a  dense  fringe  of 
oleanders  shading  it  from  the  sun,  and  preventing  summer 
evaporation,  while  they  waste  their  perfume  on  the  desert  air 
without  a  human  inhabitant  near.  Lovely  knolls  and  dells  open 
jut  at  every  turn,  gently  rising  to  the  wooded  plateau  above. 
Then  we  rise  to  higher  ground,  and  ride  through  noble  forests  of 
oak  :  then  for  a  mile  or  two  through  luxuriant  green  corn  ;  or 
perhaps  through  a  rich  forest  of  scattered  olive-trees,  left  un- 
tended  and  uncared  for,  with,  perhaps,  patches  of  corn  in  the 
open  glades."  ^ 

Og,  according  to  Josephus,'*  was  coming  to  the  aid  of  Sihon 
when  he  heard  of  his  defeat  and  death.  If  so,  he  must  have  re- 
treated in  some  alarm  to  his  stony  citadel  of  Argob  ;  for  it  seems 
to  have  been  there  that  he  made  his  stand.  Moses  had  been 
instructed  by  God  to  invade  Bashan,  and  promised  complete 
success  (Numb.  xxi.  34).  In  reliance  on  this  promise  he  marched 

'  See  the  Septuagint  Version  of  Numb.  xxi.  30. 

*  Porter,  in  Smith's  "  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  vol.  i.  p.  104. 
3  Tristram,  "  Bible  Places,"  p.  322. 

*  Josephus,  "  Ant.  Jud.''  iv.  5,  §  3. 


LATER  YEARS   OF   MOSES.  185 

into  the  heart  of  the  country, and  found  Og  with  his  armypostcd 
at  Edrei,  in  a  veryadvantageous  position.  Edrci  occupies  a  rocky 
promontory,  which  projects  from  the  south-west  corner  of  the 
Ledja  into  the  plain.  It  is  without  water  and  without  access, 
excepting  over  rocks  and  through  defiles  almost  impracticable. 
Many  of  the  old  houses  still  remain — they  are  of  great  strcn:4lh, 
low,  massive,  and  gloomy.  Moses,however,  persevered.  Though 
Og  was  by  repute  "  of  the  sons  of  the  giants,"  and  of  a  stature 
rarely  attained  by  man,  while  his  subjects  were  probably  also  to  a 
large  extent  of  the  primitive  gigantic  race,  he  yet  proceeded  to 
the  attack.  How  he  overcame  the  obstacles,  we  do  not  know, 
but  the  result  of  his  assault  was  a  complete  victory  ;  the  greater 
part  of  the  Amorite  army  perished  ;  Og  and  his  sons  perished 
with  them  ;  Edrei  was  taken  ;  and  the  whole  kingdom  shortly 
overrun.  There  were  within  its  limits  sixty  cities,  all  of  them 
"fenced  with  high  walls,  gates,  and  bars  (Deut.  iii.  5),  beside 
unwallcd  towns  a  great  many."  These  Moses  took  and  "  utterly 
destroyed  ;"  at  the  same  time,  by  Divine  command,  extermi- 
nating the  inhabitants  (ver.  6). 

The  Trans-Jordanic  region  was  thus  conquered,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Moabite  territory  south  of  the  Arnon,  and  extending 
thence  along  the  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea  to  the  Lower  Jordan 
valley,  of  the  Ammonite  country  further  to  the  east,  and  of  some 
scattered  settlements  of  the  Midianites.  Whether  the  original 
intention  of  Moses  was,  or  was  not,  to  occupy  this  country,  is 
not  apparent,  but,  at  any  rate,  he  was  induced  to  agree  to  its 
occupation  by  the  representations  of  the  Reubenites  and  Gadites, 
who  pointed  out  that  it  was  especially  suited  to  them  on  account 
of  their  wealth  in  cattle.  Having  pledged  them  solemnly  to 
take  full  part  in  the  conquest  of  Western  Canaan,  notwithstand- 
ing their  eastern  location,  he  assigned  the  district  to  them,  join- 
ing with  them,  however,  as  needed  for  the  full  occupation  of  the 
district,  one-half  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh  (Numb,  xxxii.  1-40). 

The  last  war  of  Moses  was  with  the  Midianites,  or,  perhaps  it  ^ 
should  be  said,  with  the  Midianites,  supported  by  the  Moabites.  / 
The  relations  of  the  Israelites  with  the  Moabites  had  from  first  to 
last  been  strained.  Moses  had  received  an  express  command  from 
God  not  to  invadetheir  territory,  or  contend  with  them  in  battle, 
since  they  were  "children  of  Lot,"  and  thus  a  kindred  race  to  , 
Israel  (Deut.  ii.  9).     He  had  therefore  skirted  their  country,  as 
he  had  the  country  of  the  Edomites,  leaving  it  on  his  left  hand, 


1 86  MOSES. 

as  he  marched  to  the  banks  of  the  Arnon,  on  his  way  to  invade 
the  territory  of  Sihon,  recently  Moabite,  but,  at  the  time  of  his 
invasion,  Amorite.  Moab  had  seen  his  advance  with  displeasure ; 
and  the  king  of  Moab  at  the  time,  Balak  the  son  of  Zippor,  had 
sent  into  Mesopotamia,  and  hired  a  soothsayer,  on  whom  he 
placed  great  reliance,  hoping  to  induce  him  to  lay  the  people 
of  Israel  under  a  curse,  and  intending  in  that  case  to  attack 
them  and  "  drive  them  out  of  the  land"  (Numb.  xxii.  5,  6).  But 
the  soothsayer,  Balaam  the  son  of  Beor,  proved  intractable. 
He  was  a  man  of  that  strangely  mixed  character,  which  from 
time  to  time  passes  across  the  stage  of  history,  "  combining  the 
purest  form  of  religious  belief  with  a  standard  of  action  im- 
measurably below  it ; " '  anxious  for  worldly  advancement,  but 
unable  to  bring  himself  to  overstep  manifestly  the  restraints  of 
law  and  conscience  ;  always  repining  and  seeking  to  reconcile 
his  private  interest  with  the  rule  of  right  ;  self-deceived,  and 
gradually  led  on  to  the  commission  of  grievous  sins,  from  which 
his  better  nature  would  have  shrunk,  had  he  viewed  them  in 
their  true  light.  Solicited  by  two  embassies,  he  consents  after 
a  time  to  draw  near  to  the  temptation,  and  then  he  proceeds  to 
coquet  with  it,  to  dally  with  it,  to  endeavour  as  it  were  to  cir- 
cumvent the  Deity,  and  to  find  a  way  of  doing  what  the  monarch 
who  has  sent  for  him  desires  without  directly  giving  the  lie  to 
his  internal  spiritual  impulses  and  Divine  enlightenment.  In 
this  he  fails.  "The  irresistible  force  of  the  prophetic  impulse 
overpowers  the  baser  spirit  of  the  individual  man."^  The 
Divine  message  forces  its  way,  and  is  delivered  whether  he  will 
or  no.  Hired  to  curse  Israel,  he  is  compelled  to  bless  them 
altogether — to"hft  up  his  voice"  and  cry— "How  goodly  are 
thy  tents,  O  Jacob,  and  thy  tabernacles,  O  Israel !  As  the 
valleys  are  they  spread  forth,  as  gardens  by  the  river's  side,  as 
the  trees  of  lign  aloes  which  the  Lord  hath  planted,  as  cedars 
beside  the  waters.  Water  shall  flow  from  his  buckets,  and  his 
seed  shall  be  in  many  waters  ;  and  his  king  shall  be  higher  than 
Agag,  and  his  kingdom  shall  be  exalted.  God  brought  him 
forth  out  of  Egypt ;  he  hath  as  it  were  the  strength  of  a  wild 
bull :  he  shall  eat  up  the  nations  that  are  his  enemies ;  he  shall 
break  their  bones  in  pieces  ;  and  pierce  them  through  with  his 
arrows.     He  couched,  he  lay  down  as  a  lion  ;  (he  lay  down)  as 

»  Stanley  "Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  191. 
»  Ibid.,  p.  196. 


LATER   YEARS  OF  MOSES.  187 

a  lioness  ;  who  shall  stir  him  up  ?     Blessed  be  he  that  blesseth 
thee,   and   cursed    be   he   that   curseth    thee!"    (Numb.   xxiv. 

5-9). 

Reluctantly,  Balak  gave  up  the  idea  of  himself  attackmg  the 
host  of  Israel  with  his  army,  and  descended  to  a  lower  and  baser 
form  of  hostility.  By  the  advice  of  Balaam  (Numb.  xxxi.  16)  he  t^ 
drew  the  Israelites  into  sin,  tempted  them  to  join  in  the  Moabite 
and  Midianite  idolatries,  and  then  to  engage  in  those  licentious 
orgies,  with  which  the  idolatries  of  the  East  were  always  so 
intimately  connected.  Israel  fell  into  the  snare  ;  and  the  result 
was  that  terrible  plague  which  cost  the  lives  of  twenty-four  thou-  ^ 
sand  of  the  people,  whereto  the  zeal  of  Phineas  put  a  stop.'  It 
was  to  avenge  this  successful  plot  that  the  last  war  of  Moses^::^ 
was  undertaken.  The  Divine  command  still  protected  Moab  ; 
but  Midian,  which  had  been  Moab's  tool,  received  the  chastise- 
ment that  both  had  deserved,  and  suffered  a  fearful  retribution. 
The  war  had  the  character  of  a  sacred  war.  Of  every  tribe 
throughout  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  one  thousand  warriors  were 
taken,  perhaps  by  lot,  and  to  this  small  representative  army 
was  committed  the  task  of  chastising  the  myriads  of  Midian. 
Phinehas,  the  son  of  Eleazar,  the  high  priest,  who  had  already 
shown  his  zeal  against  licentiousness,  was  appointed  to  accom- 
pany, and  probably  to  direct,  the  expedition  ;  the  ark  and 
"vessels  of  the  sanctuary"  (Numb.  xxi.  6),  went  with  him  ;  and 
the  sacred  trumpets  were  blown.  The  Midianite  army  was 
commanded  by  five  chiefs,  Evi,  and  Rekem,  and  Zur,  and  Hur, 
and  Reba,  who  are  all  of  them  given  the  title  of  "  king,"  but  who 
were  probably  heads  of  tribes,  like  Oreb,  and  Zeb,  and  Zebah, 
and  Zalmunna  (Judges  viii.  3-5).  Moab  perhaps  sent  a  contin-x 
gent  under  Balaam.  At  any  rate,  that  arch-plotter  was  present, 
and  took  part  in  the  fight,  which  terminated  in  Midian's  entire 
discomfiture,  in  the  complete  destruction  of  the  army,  and  in 
the  slaughter  of  the  five  chiefs.  The  great  prophet  of  the  East 
was  involved  in  their  fate.  "  Balaam,  the  son  of  Beor,  the 
soothsayer,  did  the  children  of  Israel  slay  with  the  sword  among 
the  rest  of  their  slain  "  (Joshua  xiii.  22).  An  enormous  quantity 
of  spoil  was  taken — 675,000  sheep,  72,000  cows  and  oxen, 
61,000  asses,  and  female  captives  to  the  number  of  32,000 — 
besides  a  great  store  of  gold  in  the  shape  of  ank^e-chains  and 
bracelets,  of  signet  rings,  earrings,  and  armlets  (vers.  32-35« 
»  See  above,  page  171. 


l88  MOSES. 

and   50).       By   Divine   command    the   male    population   was 
exterminated. 

The  active  work  of  Moses  was  now  accomplished.  Eastern 
Palestine  was  conquered,  except  the  Moabite  and  Ammonite 
portions,  which  were  reserved  for  the  children  of  "just  Lot ;" 
and  the  time  had  come  for  the  victorious  nation  to  pass  from 
the  eastern  to  the  western  region,  and  claim  the  whole  wide 
sweep  of  its  inheritance.  But  Moses  was  not  to  go  over  Jordan, 
and  knew  that  he  was  not  to  go  over.  He  was  conscious  that 
his  end  approached  ;  and  having  brought  the  people  to  the  very 
banks  of  Jordan,  and  disposed  them  along  its  course,  in  the 
rich  valley  under  the  eastern  hills,  from  Beth-Jeshimoth  near  the 
shore  of  the  Dead  Sea  to  Abel-Shittim,  "  the  acacia  meadow," 
several  miles  higher  up  the  stream,  he  prepared  to  bring  his 
life  to  a  close  with  calmness,  courage,  and  dignity,  and  to  com- 
mit the  task  of  completing  his  work  to  another. 

His  first  care  was  to  give  injunctions  to  the  people,  and  to 
impress  upon  them,  in  the  strongest  possible  way,  the  impor- 
tance of  their  cleaving  to  God,  and  observing  all  the  ordinances 
of  the  law  delivered  to  them  through  him,  if  they  would  hope  to 
obtain  the  Divine  blessing,  and  to  avoid  the  terrible  punishments 
in  store  for  the  disobedient.  This  he  did  by  the  series  of  dis- 
courses which  are  recorded  in  the  first  thirty  chapters  of 
Deuteronomy,  wherein  appeal  is  made  to  every  motive  that 
commonly  exercises  a  constraining  force  upon  men  ;  and  by  an 
alternation  of  threats  and  promises,  of  appeals  to  gratitude,  and 
to  reason,  and  to  self-interest,  and  to  the  innate  sense  of  right 
and  wrong,  the  nation  is  urged,  persuaded,  exhorted,  wrought 
upon,  to  refuse  the  evil  and  choose  the  good,  to  renounce 
idolatry,  impurity,  and  wickedness  of  all  kinds,  and  to  walk  in 
the  way  of  the  Lord,  to  fear  Him,  and  to  keep  His  command- 
ments. The  sum  is  this — "See,  I  have  set  before  thee  this  day 
life  and  good,  death  and  evil  ;  in  that  I  command  thee  this  day 
to  love  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  walk  in  His  ways,  and  to  keep  His 
comniandments,  and  His  statutes,  and  His  judgments,  that 
thou  mayest  live  and  multiply,  and  that  the  Lord  thy  God  may 
bless  thee  in  the  land  whither  thou  goest  in  to  possess  it.  But 
if  thine  heart  turn  away,  and  if  thou  wilt  not  hear,  but  shalt 
be  drawn  away,  and  worship  other  gods,  and  serve  them  ;  I 
denounce  unto  you  this  day  that  ye  shall  surely  perish  ;  ye  shall 
not  prolong  your  days  upon  the  land,  whither  thou  passest  over 


LATER  YEARS  OF  MOSES.  1 89 

Jordan  to  go  in  and  possess  it.  I  call  heaven  and  earth  to 
witness  against  you  this  day,  that  I  have  set  before  thee  life  and 
death,  the  blessing  and  the  curse  ;  thcreft)re  choose  life,  that 
thou  mayest  live,  thou  and  thy  seed  :  to  love  the  Lord  thy  God, 
and  to  obey  His  voice,  and  to  cleave  unto  Him  ;  for  He  is  thy 
life,  and  the  length  of  thy  days  :  that  thou  mayest  dwell  in  the 
land  which  the  Lord  sware  unto  thy  fathers,  to  Abraham,  to 
Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  to  give  them"  (Deut.  xxx.  15-20). 

The  next  care  of  IMoses  was  with  respect  to  his  successor. 
Joshua  had  been  previously,  not  obscurely,  designated  for  the 
post.  Moses  had  put  up  a  request  to  God,  saying  :  "  Let  the 
Lord,  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh,  appoint  a  man  over  the 
congregation,  which  may  go  out  before  them,  and  which  may 
come  in  before  them  :  that  the  congregation  of  the  Lord  be  not 
as  sheep  which  have  no  shepherd  (Numb,  xxviii.  16,  17)  ;  and 
God  had  replied  :  "Take  thee  Joshua,  the  son  of  Nun,  a  man 
in  whom  is  the  spirit  :  and  set  him  before  Eleazar  the  priest, 
and  before  all  the  congregation,  and  give  him  a  charge  in  their 
sight.  And  thou  shalt  put  of  thine  honour  upon  him,  that  all 
the  congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel  may  obey.  And  he 
shall  stand  before  Eleazar  the  priest,  who  shalt  enquire  for  him 
by  the  judgment  of  the  Urim  before  the  Lord  :  at  his  word 
shall  they  go  out,  and  at  his  word  shall  they  come  in,  both  he 
and  all  the  children  of  Israel  with  him  "  (vers.  18-21).  And  Moses 
had  done  according  to  the  commandment  of  God  :  he  had  taken 
Joshua  and  set  him  before  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  before  all  the 
congregation  ;  and  had  laid  his  hands  on  him,  and  given  him 
a  charge,  as  the  Lord  had  said  (vers.  22,  23). 

It  would  seem,  however,  that  now,  in  the  immediate  prospect 
of  death,  he  gave  Joshua  a  second  charge.  "  Moses  called 
unto  Joshua,  and  said  unto  him  in  the  sight  of  all  Israel,  Be 
strong  and  of  a  good  courage  :  for  thou  shalt  go  with  this  people 
into  the  land  which  the  Lord  hath  sworn  unto  their  fathers  to 
give  them  ;  and  ^/lou  shalt  cause  them  to  inherit  it.  And  the 
Lord,  He  it  is  that  doth  go  before  thee  ;  He  will  be  with  thee, 
He  will  not  fail  thee,  neither  forsake  thee  ;  fear  not,  neither  be 
dismayed"  (Deut.  xxxi.  7,  8).  This  was  the  formal  delivery 
into  the  hands  of  Joshua  of  the  oftice  of  leader  of  the  people. 
It  was  immediately  followed  by  a  solemn  confirmation  of  the 
act  by  God  Himself,  who  summoned  both  Moses  and  Joshua  to 
present  themselves  before  Him  m  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Con- 


190  MOSES. 

gregation,  and  there  ratified  what  Moses  had  done  by  Himself 
giving  Joshua  his  commission  in  the  words  :  "  Be  strong  and  of 
a  good  courage  :  for  iJioii  shall  bring  the  children  of  Israel  into 
the  lafid  which  I  sware  unto  them  :  and  /  will  be  with  thee'''' 
(vers.  23). 

Moses'  third  care  was  concerning  the  Book  of  the  Law. 
Moses  had  written  the  Book  of  the  Law  at  various  interv^als  in 
the  course  of  the  wanderings.  Either  on  parchment,  which  the 
Hebrew  artificers  may  have  had  the  skill  to  prepare  from  the 
skins  of  slain  beasts,  or  on  papyrus,  which  he  may  have  brought 
with  him  out  of  Egypt,  he  had  noted  down  the  several  laws 
delivered  to  him  by  God  during  the  forty  years  of  his  ministry, 
and  had  collected  them  into  a  "book"  isepher)^  which  was 
thenceforth  to  be  the  rule  of  their  life  to  the  people.  Of  this 
"  Book"  he  had  hitherto  been  the  custodian;  but,  now  that  he 
was  on  the  point  of  departmg,  some  other  custodian,  or  cus- 
todians, must  be  found  for  it.  It  might  have  been  expected  that 
he  would  transfer  the  charge,  with  the  other  duties  of  his  office, 
to  Joshua  ;  but  either  this  course  did  not  approve  itself  to  him, 
or  he  was  Divinely  admonished  to  act  otherwise.  Joshua  was 
a  soldier,  not  a  prophet  or  a  priest.  It  was  fitting  that  the  Law, 
the  rule  of  life  for  all,  the  directory  for  the  entire  ritual  and 
service  which  it  was  the  office  of  the  priests  to  perform,  should 
be  deposited  with  the  priestly  class,  but  with  some  security  that 
they  should  not  tamper  with  it,  nor  alter  it,  in  their  own  interest, 
or  to  suit  their  own  ideas  of  what  was  right  and  proper.  To 
this  end  Moses  provided  a  double  security.  He  made  the  priests 
the  custodians  of  the  Book  in  conjunction  with  "  the  elders  of 
Israel "  (ver.  9)  ;  and  he  required  that  his  autograph  should  be 
"  put  by  the  side  of  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant "  (ver.  26)  ;  and 
that  from  it  should  be  read  in  the  ears  of  the  whole  people,  once 
every  seven  years,  in  the  Feast  of  the  Tabernacles,  either  the 
whole  Law,  or  at  any  rate  the  main  precepts  of  it  (vers.  10-13). 
No  better  precautions  could  have  been  taken  for  preserving  the 
text  in  its  integrity,  and  ensuring  the  transmission  of  the  rules 
of  conduct,  which  he  had  been  commissioned  to  lay  down, 
unaltered  and  unimpaired,  from  generation  to  generation. 

Still,  when  all  this  was  done,  there  seemed  to  be  some  "last 
words  "  needed.  The  pastor  does  not  readily  quit  his  flock 
without  prolonged  exhortation.  The  founder  of  a  people  or 
a  state,  if  he  has   notice  of  his  approaching  end,  still   more 


LATER  YEARS  OF  MOSES.  I9I 

desires  to  imprint  his  instructions  and  warnings  on  the  minds 
of  the  people  whom  he  is  leaving.  Moses,  deeply  anxious  for 
his  nation  and  impressed  strongly  with  the  fcelinj,'  that  after  his 
death  they  would  fall  away  from  God  and  "  utterly  corrupt 
themselves,"  composed  in  the  few  days  that  remained  to  him, 
and  recited  in  the  ears  of  the  congret^ation,  two  splendid  psalms 
or  "  songs  " — one  a  "  song  of  warning,"  addressed  to  the  people 
collectively,  and  the  other  a  "  song  of  blessing,"  addressed  (in 
the  main)  to  the  twelve  tribes  severally,  "  correspondent  and 
supplementary  to  each  other,"'  setting  before  the  people  "  Life  " 
and  "  Death  " — the  glorious  future  which  awaited  them  if  they 
would  be  faithful  to  God  and  set  themselves  earnestly  to  the 
accomplishment  of  their  national  mission,  and  the  terrible 
judgments  that  would  fall  upon  them  if  they,  as  he  anticipated, 
should  apostatize,  despite  God's  mercies  to  them,,  and  provoke 
the  vengeance  with  which  God  was  bound  to  visit  such  apostasy. 
The  poems  are  too  long  to  be  inserted  here  in  their  entirety  ; 
but  a  specimen  may  be  given  from  each,  which  will  sufficiently 
indicate  their  style  and  general  character : 

"  Jeshurun  waxed  fat,  and  kicked — 
Thou  art  waxen  fat,  thou  art  grown  thick,  thou  art  become  sleek  : 
Then  he  forsook  the  God  which  made  him, 
And  lightly  esteemed  the  Rock  of  his  salvation. 
They  moved  Him  to  jealousy  with  strange  gods, 
With  abominations  provoked  they  Him  to  anger  ; 
They  sacrificed  unto  demons,  which  were  no  gods, 
To  gods  whom  before  they  knew  not ; 
To  new  gods  that  came  newly  up — 
Gods,  whom  your  fathers  feared  not. 
Of  the  Rock  that  begat  thee  thou  art  unmindful, 
And  hast  forgotten  the  God  that  gave  thee  birth  ; 
And  when  the  Lord  saw  it.  He  abhorred  them, 
For  the  provoking  of  His  sons  and  of  His  daughters  : 
And  He  said,  I  will  hide  My  face  from  them — 
I  will  see  what  their  end  shall  be  ; 
For  they  are  a  very  froward  generation, 
Children  in  whom  there  is  no  faith. 

They  have  moved  Me  to  jealousy  with  that  which  is  not  God  ; 
They  have  provoked  Me  to  anger  with  their  vanities  ; 
And  1  will  move  them  to  jealousy  with  those  that  are  not  a  people, 
I  will  provoke  them  to  anger  with  a  foolish  nation. 
For  a  fire  is  kindled  in  mine  anger, 

*  "  Speaker's  Commentary,"  vol.  i.  part  ii,  p.  910. 


193  MOSES. 

And  burneth  unto  the  lowest  hell, 

And  devoureth  the  earth,  with  her  increase, 

And  setteth  on  fire  the  foundations  of  the  mountains. 

I  will  heap  miscliiefs  upon  them  ; 

I  will  spend  Mine  arrows  upon  them  ; 

They  shall  be  wasted  with  hunger, 

And  devoured  with  burning  heat, 

And  with  bitter  destruction  ; 

And  the  teeth  of  beasts  will  I  send  upon  them, 

With  the  poison  of  crawling  things  of  the  dust. 

Without  shall  the  sword  bereave, 

And  in  the  chambers  terror  ; 

It  shall  destroy  both  young  man  and  maid. 

The  suckling  with  the  man  of  grey  hairs. 

I  said,  I  would  scatter  them  afar  ; 

I  would  make  the  remembrance  of  them  to  cease  from  among 

men  ; 
Were  it  not  that  I  feared  the  provocation  of  the  enemy, 
Lest  their  adversaries  should  misunderstand — 
Lest  they  should  say,  Our  hand  is  exalted, 
And  the  Lord  hath  not  done  all  this."  * 

The  "  Song  of  Blessing  "  has  a  prologue  and  an  epilogue  of  a 
general  character,  the  "  Blessing"  proper  being  the  following  : 

Let  Reuben  live,  and  not  die  ; 

And  let  not  his  men  be  few. 
And  this  is  the  blessing  of  Judah — He  said, 

Hear,  Lord,  the  voice  of  Judah, 

And  bring  him  unto  his  people  ; 

Let  his  hands  be  sufficient  for  him, 

And  be  Thou  a  help  to  him  from  his  enemies. 
And  of  Levi  he  said — 

Thy  Thummim  and  thy  Urim  are  with  thy  godly  one, 

Whom  thou  didst  prove  at  Massah, 

With  whom  thou  strovest  at  the  waters  of  Meribah  ; 

Who  said  of  his  father  and  mother,  I  have  not  seen  him  J 

Neither  did  he  acknowledge  his  brethren  ; 

Nor  knew  he  his  own  children  : 

For  they  have  observed  thy  word. 

And  they  have  kept  thy  covenant. 

They  shall  leach  Jacob  thy  judgments, 

And  Israel  shall  they  teach  thy  law  : 

They  shall  put  incense  before  thee. 

And  whole  burnt  offerings  upon  thine  altar. 

Bless  Thou,  Lord,  his  substance  ; 

«  Deut.  xxxii.  is~27» 


LATER    YEARS   OF    MOSES.  193 

And  aoropt  the  work  of  his  hnnds  : 

Sniil->  tluoiiijh  ll>e  loins  of  ilioni  that  rise  acfainst  him, 

And  of  them  tl^at  hate  him,  that  they  rise  not  again. 
Of  Dcnjainin  he  said — 

The  beloved  of  the  Lord  shall  dwell  in  safety  by  Him  ; 

And  He  [i.e.,  the  Lord)  shrill  cover  him  all  the  day  long  ; 

And  he  {i.e.,  Benjamin)  shall  dwell  between  His  shoulders. 
And  of  Joseph  he  said — 

Blessed  of  the  Lord  be  his  land, 

For  the  precious  things  of  heaven,  for  the  dew, 

And  for  the  deep  that  coucheth  beneath. 

And  for  the  precious  things  of  the  fruits  of  the  sun, 

And  for  the  precious  things  of  the  growth  of  the  moons, 

And  for  the  chief  things  of  the  ancient  mountains, 

And  for  the  precious  things  of  the  lasting  hills. 

And  for  the  precious  things  of  the  earth  and  its  fulness. 

And  for  the  good  will  of  him  that  dwelt  in  the  bush  : 

Let  the  blessing  come  upon  the  head  of  Joseph, 

And  on  tlie  crown  of  the  head  of  him  that  was  separate  from  his 
brethren. 

His  firstling  bullock  is  his  glory  ; 

And  his  horns  are  the  horns  of  the  wild  ox ; 

With  them  shall  he  push  all  the  people  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  ; 

And  they  are  the  ten  thousands  of  Ephraim, 

And  they  are  the  thousands  of  Manasseh. 
And  of  Zebulun  he  said  : — 

Rejoice,  Zebulun,  in  thy  going  out ; 

And  Issachar,  rejoice  in  thy  tents. 

They  shall  call  the  people  unto  the  mountain  ; 

There  shall  they  offer  sacrifices  of  righteousness  ; 

For  they  shall  suck  of  the  abundance  of  the  seas, 

And  of  treasures  liid  in  the  sand. 
And  of  Gad  he  said  : — 

Blessed  be  he  that  enlargeth  Gad  : 

He  dwellelh  as  a  lioness. 

And  tearelh  the  arm,  yea,  the  crown  of  the  head. 

And  he  selected  the  first  part  for  himself, 

Because  for  him  was  reserved  the  leader's  portion : 

And  he  came,  together  with  the  heads  of  the  people; 

He  executed  the  justice  of  the  l^ord. 

And  his  judgments,  together  with  Israel. 
And  of  Dan  he  said  :  — 

Dan  is  a  lion's  whelp, 

That  leapeth  forth  from  Bashan. 
And  of  Naphtali  he  said  : — 

O  Naphtali,  satisfied  with  favour, 

And  full  with  the  blessing  of  the  Lord, 

Possess  thou  the  sea  and  the  south. 

14 


194  MOSES. 

And  of  Asher  he  said  : — 

Blessed  be  Asher  with  children  ; 

Let  him  be  favoured  among  his  brethren  ; 

And  let  him  dip  his  foot  in  oil. 

Thy  bars  shall  be  iron  and  brass  ; 

And  as  thy  days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be."  * 

*  Deut.  xxxiii.  6-2$. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

MOSES'  DEATH. 

The  ascent  of  Pi<;gah — The  view  from  it — Hebrew  legend  of  the  circum- 
stances of  Moses'  death — Actual  circumstances  unknown — Place  of 
sepulture  unknown — Chief  characteristics  of  Moses — His  faithful  ser- 
vice of  God — His  ''meekness" — His  trust  in  God— His  unselfishness — 
Conclusion. 

Two  things  only  now  remained  for  Moses  to  do — to  satisfy 
his  soul  with  the  fullest  sight  of  the  Promised  Land  that  was 
possible  for  him  under  the  circumstances,  and  to  die.  He  might 
not  go  over  Jordan,  but  he  might  feast  his  eyes,  and  comfort  his 
heart,  with  a  long,  rapt,  earnest  gaze  upon  that  goodly  land  to 
which  he  had  brought  his  people,  and  which  he  knew  to  be  their 
sure  inheritance.  He  might  "lift  up  his  eyes,"  and  look  "  west- 
ward, and  northward,  and  southward,  and  eastward,"  and  behold 
"  the  good  land  that  was  beyond  Jordan,  that  goodly  mountain, 
and  Lebanon  "  (Deut.  iii.  25,  27).  So  much  had  been  granted 
him,  and  he  had  been  bidden  to  ascend  into  the  top  of  Pisgah, 
and  thence  contemplate  the  wondrous,  the  unequalled,  prospect. 
It  is  to  be  remembered  that  though  aged  a  hundred  and  twenty 
years,  he  was  in  no  way  infirm  ;  "  his  eye  was  not  dim,  nor  his 
natural  force  abated  "  (Deut.  xxxiv.  7).  He  was  able,  therefore, 
without  any  extreme  fatigue  or  exhaustion,  to  mount  from  the 
low  plain  of  Jordan,  where  the  host  lay  encamped,  from  ridge 
to  ridge,  and  from  terrace  to  terrace,  up  the  rocky  range  of 
Moab,  to  the  "  high  places"  dedicated  to  Baal  on  the  top  of  the 
rocks,  to  the  bare  hill  close  above  it — the  cultivated  field  of  the 
watchmen  (Zophim)  on  the  top  of  Pisgah — to  the  peak  where 


196  MOSES. 

Stood  "  the  sanctuary  of  Peor,  that  looketh  toward  the  waste." 
On  and  on,  the  .'g:d  prophet  toiled  upward.  Scripture  shuts  up 
the  scene  into  the  fewest,  simplest  words  (Deut.  xxxiv.  1-4)  ; 
but  Josephus  to  some  extent  expands  it,  whether  following  tra- 
dition, or  drawing  from  the  stores  of  his  own  imagination,  who 
shall  say?  According  to  the  Jewish  historian,  "  He  withdrew 
from  the  camp  amid  the  tears  of  the  people,  the  women  beating 
their  breasts,  and  the  children  giving  way  to  uncontrolled  weep- 
ing. At  a  certain  point  of  the  ascent,  he  made  a  sign  to  the 
weeping  multitude  to  advance  no  furiher,  and  pursued  his  way, 
taking  with  him  only  the  elders,  the  high  priest,  Eleazar,  and  the 
general,  Joshua.  At  the  top  of  the  mountain  he  dismissed  the 
elders,  and  was  proceeding  to  embrace  Eleazar  and  Joshua, 
when  a  cloud  suddenly  covered  him,  and  he  vanished  from  their 
sight  in  a  deep  ravine  or  gully."  ^ 

But  first,  he  had  gazed  intently  on  the  fair  scene  stretched 
out  before  his  view.  "  Beneath  him  lay  the  tents  of  Israel 
ready  for  the  march  ;  and,  over  against  them,  distinctly  visible 
in  its  grove  of  palm  trees,  the  stately  Jericho,  key  of  the  Land 
of  Promise.  Beyond  was  spread  out  the  whole  range  of  the 
mountains  of  Palestine,  in  its  fourfold  masses — "  all  Gilead," 
with  Hermon  and  Lebanon  in  the  east  and  north  ;  the  hills  of 
Galilee,  overhanging  the  Lake  of  Gennesareth  ;  the  wide  open- 
ing where  lay  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  the  future  batile-field 
of  the  nations  ;  the  rounded  summits  of  Ebal  and  Gerizim  ; 
immediately  in  front  of  him  the  hills  of  Judea,  and  amidst 
them,  seen  distinctly  through  the  rents  in  their  rocky  walls^ 
Bethlehem  on  its  narrow  ridge,  and  the  invincible  fortress  of 
Jebus.  To  him,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  charm  of  that  view — 
pronounced  by  the  few  modern  travellers  that  have  seen  it 
to  be  unequalled  of  its  kind—  lay  in  the  assurance  that  this  was 
the  land  promised  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  and  to 
their  seed,  the  inheritance — with  all  its  varied  features  of  rock, 
and  pasture,  and  forest,  and  desert — for  the  sake  of  uhicli 
he  had  borne  so  many  years  of  toil  and  danger,  in  the  midst  of 
which  the  fortunes  of  his  people  would  be  unfolded  worthily 
of  that  great  beginning.  To  us,  as  we  place  ourselves  by  his 
side,  the  v  ew  swells  into  colossal  proportions,  as  we  think  how 
the  proud  city  of  palm  trees  is  to  fall  before  the  hosts  of  Israel  ; 
how  the  spear  of  Joshua  is  to  be  planted  on  height  after  height 
*  Josephus,  "  Ant.  Jud."  iv.  8,  §  48. 


MOSES'   DEATH.  IQ7 

of  those  hostile  mountains  ;  what  scries  of  events,  wonflcrful 
beyond  any  that  had  been  witnessed  in  Egypt  or  in  Smai, 
would  in  after  aj;es  be  enacted  on  the  narrow  crest  of  licth- 
Ichem,  in  the  deep  basin  of  the  Galilean  lake,  beneath  the 
walls  of  Jebus,  which  is  Jerusalem.'  ' 

It  has  been  said  that  the  sight  afforded  to  Moses  of  "nil 
the  land,"  "Gilead,  and  fJan,  and  all  Naphtali,  and  the  land  of 
Ephraim,  and  Manasseh,  and  all  the  land  of  Judah  unto  the 
utmost  sea,  and  the  south,  and  the  plain  of  the  valley  of  Jericho, 
the  city  of  p  dm  trees,  unto  Zoar"  (Deut.  xxxiv.  1-3),  was 
"  supernatural,  obtained  perhaps,  through  an  extraordinary 
enhancement  of  the  dying  lawgiver's  power  of  vision."  ^  But 
there  is  no  need  of  this  supposition.  From  the  highest  peak  of 
Nebo,  which  seems  to  have  borne  the  name  of  Pisgah,  the 
natural  eye,  unhelped,  would  have  ranged  over  the  sylvan 
scenes  of  Gilead  and  Bashan,  over  the  Giior  or  Jordan  valley 
from  end  to  end,  over  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  hill-country  of  the 
south  beyond,  over  the  Judnsan  upland,  and  over  the  moun- 
tains of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  would  1  a  e  had  glimpses  of 
the  fertile  valleys  which  nestle  among  the  Palestinian  hills,  and 
have  caught  a  sight  of  ancient  cities  crowning  many  a  rocky 
eminence.  Naphtali,  if  not  seen,  would  have  been  suggested 
by  the  snowy  peak  of  Hermon  towering  aloft  in  the  far  northern 
sky;  and  even  "  the  utmost  sea,"  though  beyond  bodily  ken, 
being  shut  out  by  the  Judasan  hills,  would  have  been  felt  as 
present  beyond  them  at  no  great  distance  towards  the  west. 
The  whole  Land  of  Promise  was  before  Moses,  and  in  the 
clear  atmosphere  of  that  southern  sky  he  would  see  its  features 
with  a  distinctness  of  which  we  northern  islanders,  who  d\\  ell 
in  fogs,  can  scarcely  form  a  conception  ;  he  would  see  and 
comprehend  how  fair  and  "goodly"  was  the  trart,  how  fitted 
to  teem  with  corn,  and  wine,  and  honey,  and  oil  olive,  and  fig 
trees,  and  pomegranates,  where  his  people  might  be  sure  to 
"eat  bread  without  scarceness,"  and  have  "no  lack  of  any- 
thing" (Deut.  viii.  8,  9). 

A  Hebrew  legend  tells  the  tale  of  the  actual  death  of  Moses 
as  follows  : 

"  The  supreme  angels  were  commanded  to  take  awav  the 
soul     of    Moses  ;    but     they    tarried    tiirtuigh     fear.       Among 

'  Stanley,  "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  i.  p.  197. 
•  "  Speaker's  Commentary,"  vol.  i.  part  ii.  p.  927. 


198  MOSES. 

them  was  Zagzagel,  or  Zangziel,  the  special  teacher  of 
Moses,  who  said — '  O  Lord,  I  was  the  instructor  of  Moses, 
how  can  I  take  away  the  soul  of  my  disciple?'  Then  the 
Angel  of  Death  was  called  forth,  who,  with  the  eagerness  of 
the  Destroyer,  drew  his  sword  and  approached  Moses.  But 
he  saw  inscribed  on  his  staff  the  Ineffable  Name  of  the 
Almighty  ;  he  saw  fiery  sparks  issuing  from  his  lips,  and  a 
wondrous  lustre  shining  forth  from  his  countenance.  For 
Moses  shone  like  the  sun,  and  had  the  appearance  of  an  angel 
of  the  heavenly  host.  Then  was  the  Angel  of  Death  stricken 
with  terror.  And  Moses,  turning  his  eye  upon  the  angel,  asked 
of  him — '  Who  sendeth  thee  unto  me  ? '  Whereto  the  Angel 
of  Death  replied — '  He  that  hath  created  the  world,  and  that 
hath  delivered  into  my  hands  all  those  who  come  into  the 
world.'  Then  Moses  spake — '  I  was  gifted  with  the  greatest 
power.  I  was  born  with  all  the  signs  of  a  true  child  of 
Israel,  and  was  endowed  with  speech  at  my  birth.  My 
mother  received  a  recompense  even  for  the  milk  wherewith 
she  nursed  me.  From  the  days  of  my  childhood  I  was  made 
a  prophet,  being  destined  to  receive  the  Law  ;  I  wrested  the 
crown  from  the  head  of  Pharaoh.  At  the  age  of  eighty  I 
wrought  signs  and  miracles  ;  six  hundred  thousand  Israelites 
I  led  out  of  Egypt.  For  them  I  cleft  the  sea,  making  twelve 
paths.  I  sweetened  the  waters.  I  cut  from  the  rock  the 
tables  of  stone,  and  took  them  up  into  the  firmament  of  heaven. 
Face  to  face  I  spake  with  the  Lord  of  the  universe.  I  pre- 
vailed over  the  powers  that  sought  to  rival  me  in  the  supreme 
regions.  It  was  I  that  received  the  Law.  Under  the  dictation 
of  Mim  who  inspired  me,  I  wrote  the  613  commandments,  and 
by  my  teaching  enforced  them.  I  overcame  the  giants,  who 
after  the  Flood  had  maintained  their  predominance.  I  deter- 
mined the  motions  of  the  sun  and  moon  in  their  orbits.  I  have 
been  the  mightiest  of  men.  Thou,  rebellious  angel,  for  whom 
there  is  no  peace,  begone  ! ' 

"  And  the  Angel  of  Death  fled.  Then  called  out  the  mys- 
terious voice — '  Contend  not  ;  thy  life  lasteth  only  a  short 
moment.' 

"  Again  was  the  Angel  of  Death  summoned  to  take  away  the 
soul  of  Moses.  But  he  said — '  I  may  deepen  Gehenna  into  a 
lower  depth  ;  but  over  the  son  of  Amram  can  I  not  prevail. 
Before  him  I  cannot  stand.     His  face  beameth  like  that  of  a 


MOSES'   DEATH.  199 

seraph  in  the  heavenly  chariots.  His  countenance  shines  with 
Divine  radiance'  And  the  Almighty  addressed  the  An;,^el  of 
Death,  and  said— 'Thou  rebellious  angel,  thou  wert  formed  out 
of  the  fire  of  Gehenna.  Unto  the  fire  of  Gehenna  thou  shalt 
return.  Eagerly  thou  wentest  forth  ;  but  when  thou  didst  behold 
the  greatness  of  that  man  (z>.,  Moses),  thou  didst  shrink  back 
with  dismay.     Nevertheless,  his  soul  shall  be  brought  home.' 

"  Once  more  did  the  Angel  of  Death  with  drawn  sword 
approach  Moses,  who  held  in  his  hand  the  Divine  staff,  inscribed 
with  the  Ineffable  Name.  With  that  staff  did  Moses  touch  the 
Angel  of  Death  ;  and  with  a  rebuke  he  put  him  to  flight.  The 
lustre  of  his  countenance  had  not  departed  from  Moses,  when 
for  the  last  time  there  rang  out  the  mysterious  voice,  exclaim- 
ing— '  The  end  of  thy  time  hath  come.'  Moses  stood  up  in 
prayer  and  said— "Thou,  Lord  of  the  Universe,  who  wast  re- 
vealed unto  me  in  the  burning  bush,  remember  that  Thou  didst 
carry  me  up  into  Thy  heaven,  where  I  abode  forty  days  and 
forty  nights— have  mercy  upon  me,  and  hand  me  not  over  into 
the  power  of  the  Angel  of  Death.' 

"  His  prayer  was  granted.  Moses  stood  there  as  a  seraph, 
clad  with  heavenly  majesty  ;  and  He  who  ruleth  in  the  highest 
heavens  Himself  received  the  soul  of  Moses,  who  acknowledged 
the  benign  and  compassionate  rule  of  the  Creator.  Moses 
resigned  himself  to  that  merciful  rule. 

"  Thus  he  followed  the  guidance  of  the  Almighty.  And  three 
angels,  Michael,  Zagzagel,  and  Gabriel,  came  to  meet  him, 
smoothing  his  couch  for  him  to  lie  down  on  ;  and  they  placed 
themselves  at  his  right  side,  and  his  left  side,  and  at  the  foot  of 
his  couch.  Then,  by  the  heavenly  command,  he  clasped  his  hands 
and  closed  his  eyes.  And  the  Almighty  called  his  soul,  saying 
unto  it — '  My  daughter,  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  were 
appointed  for  thee  to  abide  in  the  body  of  this  righteous  man. 
Tarry  no  longer  there.  Thou  hast  arrived  at  thy  destination. 
And  thou  shalt  be  placed  with  me  by  the  Throne  of  My  Glory, 
where  .Seraphim  and  Ophanim,  where  angels  and  cherubim  are 
enthroned.'  And  the  soul  said—'  Well  was  it  for  me  to  dwell 
within  this  righteous  man.  Angels  themselves  became  cor- 
ruptible, but  this  man,  Moses,  who  was  but  tlesh  and  blood,  was 
the  purest  among  the  pure,  ever  since  the  time  when  Thou  didst 
reveal  Thyself  unto  him  in  the  midst  of  the  burning  bush.' 

"Then  the  Almighty  with  a  Divine  kiss  removed  the  soul  of 


200  MOSES. 

Moses.  'Moses,  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  cUcd  by  the  moutli  of 
the  Lord'  (Deut.  xxxiv.  5).  Tliere  was  mournin,:^  in  heaven  and 
mourning  on  earth,  and  sorrow  prevailed  ever\  uliereon  account 
of  Moses  ;  for  he  had  proclaimed  tlie  Lord's  li-hieous'ess,  aiid 
the  Divine  justice  among  the  people.  He  had  proclaimed  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  in  the  heavens  above,  and  likewise  on 
the  earth  beneath  ;  and  he  had  established  that  testimon)-, 
whereby  he  transcended  every  other  prophet  in  Israel.  There- 
fore he  received  the  high  praise,  which  crowns  the  conclusion  i-.f 
the  Divine  Law." 

Such  is  the  account  of  the  legend.  The  actual  manner  of 
Moses'  death  must  remain  for  ever  a  mystery.  No  eye  saw  it. 
None  knew  the  exact  moment  of  it.  In  silence  and  solitude,  at 
the  top  of  Pisgah,  alone  with  God,  the  great  lawgiver,  prophet, 
leader,  passed  away—  passed  to  the  rest  which  he  had  so  well 
earned,  not  smitten  by  any  painful  disease,  nor  worn  out  by 
gradual  decay — but,  still  in  the  full  possession  of  his  powers, 
still  with  none  of  his  natural  force  abated,  he  sank  to  rest — he 
"was  not,  for  God  took  him  "  (Gen.  v.  24).  The  soul  fled  ;  the 
body  remained,  and  was  buried  in  some  strange  and  mysterious 
way  — not  by  Eleazar,  not  by  Joshua — in  a  ravine  of  the  moun- 
tain :  but  exactly  where,  no  man  knew.  "  Me  buried  him  in  a 
valley  of  the  land  of  Moab,  over  against  Beth-peor  ;  but  no 
man  knoweth  of  his  sepulchre  unto  this  day  "  (Deut.  xxxiv.  6). 
"The  children  of  Israel  wept  for  Moses  in  the  plains  of  Moab 
thirty  days"  (ver.  8)  ;  but  he  had  no  funeral  rites,  no  obsequies, 
no  monument  ;  and  hence  there  could  be  no  after  growth  of 
loving  pilgrimages,  no  superstitious  reverence  of  a  holy  spot,  no 
local  commemorative  ceremonies.  The  grave  on  iMount  Ncbo 
was,  as  is  the  grave  of  Gf)lgodia,  shrouded  in  thick  darkness,  to 
after  ages  an  unknown  locality. 

As  Abraham  receives  in  Scripture,  as  his  special  designation, 
the  tiile  of  "  the  Friend  of  God  ''  (2  Cliron.  xx.  7  ;  Isa.  xli.  8  ; 
Jas.  ii.  23),  so  Moses  bears  the  title  of  "the  Servant  of  the 
Lord"  (Exod.  xiv.31  ;  Numb.  xii.  7  ;  Deut.  xxxiv.  5  ;  Josh.i.  i  ; 
Heb.  iii.  5).  The  special  quality  which  this  ej'ithet  marks  is 
his  unswerving  faithfulness— that  absolutely  un:-hHken  fidelity 
to  God  vvhicli  cliaracierizecl  him  throughout  his  entire  career, 
alike  at  Ileliopolis,  where  he  worshipj^ed  God  daily  outside  the 
walls  of  the  city,  turning  towards  the  sun-rising;  in  Midian, 
where  he  proclaimed  by  the  name  of  his  son  that  "  God  was  his 


MOSES'   DEATH.  201 

help"(Exod.  xviii.  4);  in  his  dealings  with  Pharaoh,  wherein 
from  first  to  last  he  followed  exactly  all  the  directions  that  God 
gave  him;  and  in  his  leadership  of  the  people,  which  was  little 
less  than  a  constant  pleading  to  them  of  Gods  claims,  God's  will 
to  bless,  God's  power  to  punish.  Moses  was  *'  faithful  to  God  /;/ 
all  his  house''''  (Heb.  iii.  5)  ;  i.e.^  in  the  entire  government  and 
administration  which  he  exercised  for  forty  years  over  Israel, 
God's  "house"  or  "household.''  He  was  ever  witnessing  to 
them  for  God.  "  Stand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord  " 
(Exod.  xiv.  13) — "the  Lord  shall  fight  for  you"  (Exod.  xiv.  14) 
— "at  even  ye  shall  know  that  the  Lord  hath  brought  you  out  " 
(Exod.  xvi.  6) — "  This  is  the  bread  which  the  Lord  hath 
given  you  to  eat ''  (Exod.  xvi.  15) — "  Wherefore  do  ye  tempt  the 
Lord  ?  "  (Exod.  xvii.  2) — "  Wherefore  now  do  ye  transgress  the 
commandment  of  the  Lord?"  (Numb.  xiv.  41) — "The  Lord 
your  God,  which  goeth  before  you,  He  shall  fight  foryou"(Deut. 
i.  30) — "  The  Lord  thy  God  is  a  consuming  fire,  even  a  jealous 
God"  (Deut.  iv.  24) — "The  Lord  thy  God  is  a  merciful  God, 
He  will  not  forsake  thee"  (Deut.  iv.  31) — "Thou  shalt  fear  the 
Lord  thy  God  ;  Him  shalt  thou  name,  and  to  Him  shalt  thou 
cleave,  and  swear  by  His  Name  "  (Deut.  x.  20),  «Scc.  Even  in  the 
one  defection  of  Moses  (Numb.  xx.  10-13),  ^t  the  waters  of 
Meribah,  there  was  no  conscious  unfaithfulness.  Moses  was 
wearied  out — he  was  impatient  — the  perverseness  of  the  people 
had  angered  him — "  Hear  now,  ye  rebels,''  he  exclaimed;  "must 
we  fetch  you  water  out  of  this  rock  .? "  He  did  not  mean  to  take 
the  honour  to  himself;  but  for  the  moment  God  was  not  in  his 
thoughts,  and  he  neglected  to  "  sanctify  Him  in  the  eyes  of  the 
children  of  Israel"  (ver.  12),  a  sin  of  omission  for  which  God 
punished  him. 

A  second  characteristic,  and  the  one  which  is  most  widely 
recognized,  though  perhaps  not  always  quite  rightly  understood, 
is  his  "  meekness."  The  temperament  of  Moses  was  not  placid 
or  tame.  He  was  quickly  and  violently  provoked  by  ill-doing, 
when  others  were  the  object  of  it,  and  warmly  resented  injuries 
done  either  to  man  or  to  God.  Hence  his  rash  act  in  Egypt, 
when  he  "slew  the  Egyptian  "  (Exod.  ii.  12)  ;  hence  his  chival- 
rous deliverance  of  the  daughters  of  Reuel  from  the  rude 
Midianite  shepherds  (Exod.  ii.  17-19)  ;  hence  his  hasty  break- 
ing of  the  Tables  of  the  Law  on  his  first  descent  from  Sinai 
(Exod.  xxxii.  19);  hence  his  command  to  the   Levites  to  take 


202  MOSES. 

their  swords  and  "slay  every  man  his  brother"  (Exod.  xxxii. 
27)  ;  hence  his  wrath  against  Korah  and  his  company,  who 
wished  to  degrade  Aaron  (Numb,  xvi,  5-15)  ;  hence  his  conduct 
at  "  the  waters  of  strife."  It  was  only  in  his  own  case,  when 
he  was  individually  concerned,  that  Moses  was  "meek,"  that  he 
did  not  resent  wrong-doing,  or  inflict  punishment  on  the  wrong- 
doer. He  interceded  for  the  people  and  obtained  their  pardon, 
when  they  rejected  his  authority  (Numb.  xiv.  4-20) ;  he  besought 
God  to  heal  Miriam,  when  her  sin  against  him  had  caused  her 
to  be  smitten  with  leprosy  (Numb.  xii.  1-13).  He  was  mild  in 
his  rebuke  of  Aaron,  when  Aaron  had  grievously  failed  in  the 
trust  that  he  had  reposed  in  him  (Exod.  xxxii.  21).  Once 
only  was  he  angered  at  a  slight  offered  to  himself,  when  Pharaoh 
bade  him  "  see  his  face  no  more"  (Exod.  x.  28  ;  xi.  8)  ;  and  we 
may  feel  sure  that  his  anger  then  was  less  on  his  own  account 
than  on  account  of  the  insult  offered  to  God  in  the  person  of  His 
messenger. 

Into  the  catalogue  of  Old  Testament  saints  set  forth  as 
examples  to  Christians  by  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
<^  Hebrews,  Moses  enters  by  reason  of  his  faith.  "  By  faith 
Moses,  when  he  was  come  to  years,  refused  to  be  called  the  son 
of  Pharaoh's  daughter "  (Heb.  xi.  24).  "  By  faith  he  forsook 
Egypt,  not  fearing  the  wrath  of  the  king,  for  he  endured  as 
seeing  Him  that  is  invisible  ^^  (ver.  27).  The  faith  of  Moses 
almost  never  wavers.  Whether  Pharaoh  threatens  his  life 
(Exod.  x.  28),  or  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Egyptian  host  shut  him 
in  (Exod.  xiv.  9),  or  the  people  are  "almost  ready  to  stone 
him"  (Exod.  xvii.  4),  or  Amalek  meets  him  in  the  way  and  seeks 
to  destroy  both  him  and  his  people  (Deut.  xxv.  17,  18),  or  for 
the  people's  sin  he  is  condemned  to  eight  and  thirty  years  of 
aimless  wandering  in  the  wilderness  (Numb.  xiv.  28-35),  or  his 
tribe  rises  up  and  seeks  to  shake  off  his  rule  (Numb.  xvi.  1-32), 
or  his  nearest  and  dearest  forsake  him  (Numb.  xii.  i-ii),  or  the 
entire  nation  proposes  to  put  itself  under  another  leader  (Numb, 
xiv.  4),  or  Sihon  blocks  his  entrance  into  Palestine  (Numb.  xxi. 
23),  or  Balak  "seeks  enchantments"  against  him  (Numb.  xxiv.  i), 
or  Og  the  giant  comes  out  to  battle  against  him  at  Edrei  (Numb, 
xxi.  33),  Moses  remains  firm,  unmoved — he  has  "put  his  trust 
in  God,  and  does  not  fear  what  flesh  can  do  unto  him  ; "  he  is 
certain  that  God  will  interpose,  that  He  will  not  suffer  His  pur- 
pose to  be  frustrated,  that  He  will  come  down  to  vindicate  His 


MOSES'  DEATH.  203 

own  honour,  that  nothing  will  be  able  to  stand  against  Him. 
He  sets  before  his  face  always  "Him  that  is  invisible  ;"  in 
every  difficulty  he  flies  to  Him,  entreats  Him,  beseeches  Him, 
implores  His  mercy,  His  protection,  His  gracious  favour,  His 
forgiveness.  True,  his  faith  is  sustained  in  a  miraculous  way, 
so  that  the  same  strain  is  not  put  on  it  as  on  that  of  other  men ; 
for  he  sees  God,  or  at  least  sees  "  his  similitude  "  (Numb.  xii.  8), 
and  converses  with  him  face  to  face  "  as  a  man  speaketh  unto 
his  friend"  (Exod.  xxxiii.  11).  But  still  his  faith  is  something 
marvellous,  something  almost  without  a  parallel.  It  takes  him 
to  God  at  every  moment  ;  it  sustains  him  under  every  trial  and 
disappointment  ;  in  a  lifetime  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  it 
fails  him  perhaps  three  or  four  times  ;  otherwise  it  is  a  constant 
support  and  stay.  To  the  last  he  has  the  eternal  God  for  his 
refuge,  and  feels  underneath  him  the  everlasting  arms  (Deut. 
xxxiTi.  27).  Not  even  Abraham,  "the  father  of  the  faithful,"  is 
more  a  man  of  faith  than  he. 

But  of  all  his  qualities,  of  all  his  many  excellences,  the  most 
remarkable,  the  most  characteristic,  is  his  unselfishness.     His 
own  interest,  his  own  advancement,  is  never  his  motive.     He 
does  not  seek  greatness  ;  greatness  is  thrust   upon   him.     In 
Egypt,  he  abdicates  his  princely  rank,  and  ihrows  himself  into 
the  almost  hopeless  cause  of  his  oppressed  brethren  ;  in  Midian, 
he  is  quite  content  to  be  a  shepherd,  and  aims  at  no  higher  con- 
dition ;  when  the  time  for  his  call  comes,  all  his  efforts  are 
directed  towards  escaping  compliance  with  the  call  ;  in  the  early 
portion  of  his  ministry,  he  pushes  Aaron  to  the  front,  and  re- 
mains himself  in  the  background  ;  at  Sinai  he  declines  to  be  put 
in  the  position  of  Abraham,  and  to  become  the  father  of  all  the 
faithful  ;  later  on  he  prays  that  his  name  may  be  blotted  out 
from  God's  book  rather  than  God's  favour  and  guidance  should 
be  withdrawn  from  the  people.      Forced  to  the  front  himself 
when  troubles  thicken,  he  assumes  no  state,  takes  no  titles  of 
honour,  claims  no  position  for  his  sons,  either  in  his  own  lifetmie 
or  afterwards  ;  assigns  the  succession  to  a  stranger.     An  am- 
bitious man,  a  self-seeking  man,  would,  in  the  position  which 
Moses  occupied,  have  established  a  dynasty.     Moses,  under 
Divine  guidance,  gave  his  tribe   a  certain  pie-eminence,  but 
asked  nothing  for  his  descendants. 

But  "  the  meek  inherit  the  earth  "  (Matt.  v.  5).     There  are 
lights  which,  though  put  under  2.  bushel,  cannot  be  hid.     Moses, 


204  MOSES. 

though  scantly  regarded  during  his  lifetime,  was  to  his  people 
after  his  death  "the  man  of  God"  (Deut.  xxxiii.  i) — "the 
servant  of  the  Lord  "  (Deut.  xxxiv.  5) — the  prophet  like  to  whom 
none  ever  after  arose  (ver.  10) — the  "chosen  one"  of  God 
(Ps.  cvi.  23) — "  Moses,  beloved  of  God  and  men,  whose  me- 
morial is  blessed"  (Ecclus.  xlv.  i) — "in  intelligence  surpass- 
ing all  men "  (Josephus,  "  Ant.  Jud."  iv.  8,  §  49) — "  as  a 
general  equalled  by  few  "  (ibid.) — "  great  in  all  respects"  (Philo, 
ii,  p.  280) — ''king,  lawgiver,  high-priest,  prophet  in  one"  (ibid, 
p.  179),  "in  all  that  he  did  or  said  a  pattern  to  all  men  "  (ibid, 
pp.  383-4).  Nor  was  his  memory  confined  to  the  single  people 
which  under  his  auspices  became  a  great  nation.  Manetho 
the  Egyptian  knew  of  him,  and  spoke  of  him  as  the  founder  of 
the  Jewish  polity,  and  the  author  of  the  Jewish  laws  ;^  the 
Greeks  became  acquainted  with  his  name  about  the  time  of 
Herodotus,^  and  unanimously  attributed  to  him  the  peculiar 
customs  which  marked  out  from  all  others  the  Jewish  people. 
Historians  of  Egypt  with  one  voice  proclaimed  that  it  was  he 
who  led  the  Jews  from  Egypt  to  the  Holy  Land.3  From  Greece 
his  fame  passed  to  Rome,  where  attention  was  first  drawn  to 
him  by  Cornelius  Alexander  in  the  time  of  Sulla,  and  where  he 
soon  became  known  as  "  the  Jewish  legislator,"  and  attracted 
the  notice  of  Apollonius  Molo,  Trogus  Pompeius,  Strabo, 
Thallus  the  freedman  of  Tiberius,  Tacitus,  Juvenal,  Longinus, 
and  others.  Longinus  called  him  "no  common  man;"* 
Numenius,  the  Pythagorean  philosopher,  said  that  he  was 
"  very  powerful  with  God  through  prayer."  ^  Hecataius  of 
Abdera  praised  his  courage  and  practical  wisdom.  ^  But  his 
true  praise  and  his  true  glory  is,  that,  bred  up  from  infancy 
under  circumstances  that  might  well  have  attracted  him  to 
idolatry  and  to  laxity  of  living,  he  turned  from  them  by  a 
strong  effort  of  the  will,  and  chose  the  better  part,  chose  to 

^  See  the  Fragments  of  Manetho  in  the  "  Fragm.  Hist.  Graec."  of  C. 
Miiller,  vol.  ii.  p.  580,  Fr.  54. 

2  Justin  Martyr,  "  Cohort  ad  Gent  ,"§  8  ;  Cyril  Alex.  "  Contra  Julianum," 
vol.  i.  p.  15,  D. 

3  Manetho,    l.s.c.  \   Chseremon   ap.  Joseph.,     "  Contr.   Apion,"   i,    32; 
Ptol.  Mendes.  ap.  Tatian.,   "  Orat.  adv.  Gent."  §  37. 

4  Longinus,  "  De  subUmitate,"  §  9. 

5  Numenius  ap.  Euseb.,  "  Praep.  Ev."  ix.  8. 

^  HecaL  Abder.  in  C.  MuUer's   "  Fragm.  Hist.   Grsac."  vol.   ii.   p.   392, 
Fr.  13. 


MOSES'  DEATH.  205 

abide  by  the  One  God,  "the  God  of  his  father,  the  God  of 
Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  (]od  of  Jacob  ' 
(Exod.  iii.  6),  chose  to  cHng  to  his  brethren,  and  "rather  to  suffer 
afHiction  with  the  people  of  God  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of 
sin  for  a  season"  (Heb.  xi.  25).  In  this  "great  decision"  all 
was  involved  ;  for  this  God  exalted  him  ;  for  this  God 
"recompensed"  him  (ver.  26);  not,  however,  wiih  the 
reward  that  men  commonly  look  for  and  hope  for — power  and 
honour  and  riches,  a  soft  easy  life  of  worldly  enjoyment,  a 
position  of  dignity  and  repose  among  the  great  of  the  earth — 
but  with  the  far  more  fitting  and  appropriate  reward  of  a  long 
life  of  exertion  and  toil  in  His  service — a  life  of  hardship,  of 
scant  food,  frequent  fatigue,  constant  trouble,  bereavement,  dis- 
appointment— but  a  life  cheered  by  continual  close  communion 
with  Him,  and  by  the  sense  of  an  important  task  accomplished, 
of  a  nation  emancipated,  instructed,  guided,  trained,  fitted  for 
the  work  before  it,  ready  at  last  after  forty  years  of  preparation 
to  enter  into  tliat  inheritance,  to  which  he  had  been  com- 
missioned to  conduct  it,  and  fitted,  amid  whatever  lapses  and 
shortcomings,  to  bear  a  witness  for  God  in  the  future,  to  hold 
aloft  the  torch  of  truth,  to  testify  to  the  nations  on  behalf  of  the 
One  God,  the  One  Pure,  Perfect,  Spirit,  Self-existent,  All-Holy 
— "  The  Lord,  The  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long- 
suffering  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth,  keeping  mercy 
for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity  and  transgression  and  sin,  and 
that  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty  "  (Exod.  xxxiv.  6,  7). 


The   End. 


THE  MEN  OF   THE  BIBLE. 


ABRAHAM:  HIS  LIFE  AND  TIMES. 
By  Rev.  W.  J.  Deane,  M.A.  i2mo, 
clotli,  $I.OO. 

"  The  reader  must  not  suppose  that  we  have 
but  a  leitcration  of  the  facts  of  Abraham's  life 
as  det  lilcd  in  Holy  Scripture.  The  facts  are 
here,  but  enriched  by  so  much  lore  of  all  kinds, 
that  no  one  can  read  this  book  without  learning 
a  great  deal  that  is  new  to  him.  Mr.  Deane  has 
evidently  studied  the  geography  of  the  coun- 
tries, the  religion,  manners,  and  customs  of  the 
people,  and  his  knowledge  of  these  points  en- 
ables him  to  make  his  book  interesting  and  in- 
structive. The  moral  teaching  of  Abraham's 
lite  is  also  dwelt  upon,  and  the  moral  difficulties 
are  not  shirked,  but  boldly  grappled  with." — 
The  Ecclesiastical  Gazette. 

MOSES:  HIS  LIFE  AND  TIMES. 
By  Rev.  Canon  G.  Rawlinson,  M.A. 
i2mo,  cloth,  $i.oo. 

"  As  easy  to  read  as  a  story-book.  Its  in- 
formation is  wonderful.  Our  author  makes 
Moses  live  before  your  eyes.  Such  is  the  writer's 
acquaintance  with  Eastern  history,  manners, 
and  scenery,  that  he  becomes  the  Macaulay  of 
Moses,  only  without  the  inaccuracy  of  our  Eng- 
lish historian.  If  the  other  '  Men  of  the  Bible  ' 
find  such  biographers,  the  publishers  will  have 
to  enlarge  their  premises.  Friend,  buy  this  hook. 
We  believe  you  will  thank  us  for  the  advice 
v/hen  you  llnd  yourself  fairly  fascinated  by  it." 
— Sword  ami  Tro^ucl.  "  A  work  of  great 
merit^ — The  Clergyma}i's  Magazine. 

***  .S'if///  by  Jiiail  on  receipt  of  price. 

ANSON  D.  F.  RANDOLPH  &  COMPANY, 

38   WEST  TWENTY-THIRD   STREET,   N.    Y. 


# 


THE  MEN  OF   THE  BIBLE. 


SOLOMON:  HIS  LIFE  AND  TIMES. 
By  Ven.  Archdeacon  F.  W.  Farrar, 
D.D.     i2mo,  cloth,  $i.oo. 

"  Like  ail  Dr.  Farrar's  writings,  it  is  crowded 
with  information  ;  and  this  information  is  con- 
veyed in  a  thoroughly  interesting  manner.  He 
does  not  accustom  himself  to  obtain  materials 
from  the  Dryasdust  family,  and  then  give  them 
to  his  readers  in  the  same  uninteresting  form 
in  which  he  received  them ;  but  illumines 
them  with  the  light  of  his  own  literary  skill 
and  fancy.  Great  as  is  the  importance  to  be 
attached  to  the  life  and  times  of  such  a  man 
as  Solomon,  it  would  be  easily  possible  for 
many  an  otherwise  sensible  writer  to  produce 
a  dull,  dreary,  and  unprofitable  work  upon  the 
subject.  With  Dr.  Farrar's  extended  experi- 
ence, excellent  methods,  and  accomplished  skill, 
it  is  not  possible  for  him  to  do  so.  We  have, 
therefore,  in  this  small  volume  a  mass  of  in- 
structive reading,  which  no  one  would  be  able 
to  regard  as  dull  from  any  point  of  view 
whatever." — The  Literary  IVorld.  "Farrar's 
'  Solomon  '  is  well  worth  reading,  and  it  consti- 
tutes such  a  magnificent  word  picture  of  the 
great  king  that  one  rises  from  it  with  a  more 
vivid  idea  of  the  royal  preacher  than  one  is 
likely  to  obtain  by  any  other  means." — Sword 
and  Trowel. 

ELIJAH  :  HIS  LIFE  AND  TIMES. 
By  Rev.  Prof.  W.  Milligan,  D.D. 
Ready  in  December. 

*:^*  Sent  by  7)iail  on  receipt  of  price. 

ANSON  D.  F.  RANDOLPH  &  COMPANY, 

38   WEST   TWENTY-THIRD   STREET,    N.    Y. 


"Surpassingly  use/ul,  itntentioMs  nn^  sfnuhU.  Our  ^pinitn  of  it  it  vtry  kigk.  Bu\ 
fti/  work  at  0HLe."  —  C.  H.  Spiirgcon. 

"Ftimis'iet  in  a  single  ciypftmcM/ar^  the  characteristic!  of  trvtral,  with /taturtt  not  U 
he  wet  7vtth  in  any  i>«^."— Presbyterian   Herald. 

"'■  Mat  /■of'u/iir  and  tnttrtaining  commentary  uiik  which  vn  art  mcquainttd.**- 
N   Y.  Observer. 


j^o>v  \   Old  and  Xew 

Complete.  i      Testaments, 


THE 

Biblical  Museum, 

CONSISTINa  OT 

Voter'— Critical,  Homlletic,  and  Illustrative— on  the  Holy  Scrlptnres,  forming  a  ComplaU 
Commentary  on  an  Original  Plan,  er^pccially  de;»i^cd  for  Ministers,  Bible  Student*. 
•  iid  Sunday-school  Teachers.  By  James  Comper  Gray,  Author  o/^^Th4  Clou  and 
the  Deskr  

NEW    TESTAMENT    DIVISION. 

COMPLETE  IN   FIVE  VOLUMES. 

V«lumt  I.  Matthtw  and  Mark. 

Volumt  II.  Luke  and  John. 

Volum*  III.  Acts  and  Romans. 

Volumt  IV.  Corinthians  to  Philemon. 

Vtluvtt  V.  I/ebrewt  to  Revelati&n 

with  Co/ioMS  IndtJf  t»  Utt  5  fWt» 


OLD    TESTAMENT    DIVISION. 

COMPLETE  IN  TEN   VOLUMES, 

Volume  I.  Genesis  and  Exodus. 

Viiume  If.  Leviticus,  .\' umbers,  and  Deuteronomy, 
Volume  III.  foskua  to  Satnuel. 

Volume  IV.  Kings  and  Chroniclts. 
Volume  V.   Ezra  to  Job. 

Volumt  VI.  Book  o/Pf alms. 

Volume  Vil.  Proverbs  to  Solomon, 
Volume  VI 1 1.  B.>ok  of  Isainh. 

Volume  IX.  Jeremiah,  Lamentations,  and  F.tekitL 
Volume  X.  Daniel  and  the  .Minor  I'rophett. 

WITH    A    COPIOUS    INDEX    TO    THE   TEN    VOLUMES. 

Tlie  value  of  this  Work  to  Minictcre  and  Sunday-school  Teachers  cousi-ts  In  this,  that 
t>e-lr1e''  .-xplinatory  Rnd  critical  notes,  rairirliial  referenced,  exphuiations  ami  derivation^ 
oi  wordn  litcrarv,  chronological,  and  au.HlyticaI  noiei*,  etc  ,  etc..  ench  verse  or  croup  of 
ver-e-i-  A<co\fj-\NMED  bt  suitable  Axkcdote  oh  Illustration.  Thupamo.ut  c«>uipiete 
ro-nntetifirv  is  presented  to  the  reader,  as  w(.ll  a-  the  nio-t  perfect  Museum  of  An -cdote 
and  II  ii-;r;illo-i  that  has  ever  vet  been  published,  with  additional  advantage  of  the  whole 
01  the  m.it<rl:il  belnj:  so  arranged  as  to  be  instantly  accessible  under  the  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture rr.err»-d  to. 

\imo,  cloth,  384  pages  each,  $1.25  per   Volume, 

Skni)  for  our  Spixial  Offf.r  for  a  Limufd  Timf. 
A.  D.  F.  RASDOLFH  &  CO.,  38  West  Twcnty-lhird  Street.  New  York. 


AT9   OUTT.TNK. 

"Mb.  Ja3£es  Comper  Gray's  Biblical  Museum  is  the  nearest  approteb 
to  the  sort  of  work  that  is  needed  that  we  have  yet  seen.  It  endeavors,  and 
not  without  a  large  measure  of  success,  to  blend  in  one,  the  qualities  ol 
several  kinds  of  commentarv.  Each  verse  or  each  group  of  verses,  which 
are  so  closely  related  to  each  other  as  to  be  incapable  of  separate  treatment, 
has  first  of  all  an  explanatory  note  appended,  in  which  the  letter  and  ths 
religious  meaning  of  the  text  are  treated.  On  this  follows  a  TwmiUtic  note 
which  gives  outlines  and  hints  for  a  sermon  to  he  based  on  the  text.  Then 
comes  an  illustrative  note,  being  either  an  anecdote  or  a  suitable  qur.tatioD 
from  some  author  of  repute.  And  down  the  sides  are  marginal  notes,  cbron- 
ological.  analytical,  biblical,  and  literary ;  often  throwing  very  much  light 
on  the  passage  under  treatment.  Tlu  hook  is  Grounded  with  available  si'rmon 
material.  The  compiler's  anecdotes  from  very  many  sources,  come  down  to 
persons  still  living,  and  he  has  taken  great  pains  to  go  to  the  best  authori 
ties  for  his  critical  and  illustrative  matter.  He  has  put  the  crown  on  hii 
Indefatigable  diligence,  by  adding  two  indexes:  one  of  subjects,  the  othei 
of  anecdotes,  to  the  entire  work. 

"  We  can  truly  say  that  his  book  has  not  merely  the  unusual  merit  of  being 
a  very  re£d  help  in  itself,  but  that  no  clergyman  who  uses  it  for  any  time  can 
well  fail  to  learn  how  to  accumulate  and  arrange  similar  materials  for  him- 
self. Considered  as  a  whole,  the  compilation  deserves  hearty  praise,  and 
must  be  useful  to  all  who  employ  it  wisely,  not  by  servile  anu  uncritica. 
adoption  of  everything  in  it,  but  by  freely  availing  themselves  of  the  pur* 
gold  to  be  found  on  almost  every  page." — The  Church  limsr 

"  This  truly  original  work  on  the  New  Testament,  which  has  lH-<»n  in 
course  of  preparation  and  publication  for  several  years,  is  now  complete, 
and,  although  it  has  some  minor  defects,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  ;i 
a  valuable  series.  It  is  a  sort  of  Biblical  Encyclopaedia,  giving  in  a  variety 
of  forms  an  immense  amount  of  explanation,  illustration,  information,  and 
spiritual  instruction  relating  to,  and  drawn  from,  the  Word  of  God  It  is  a 
buok  which  may  be  referred  to  for  the  interpretation  of  the  sacred  text  *lor 
occasional  or  continuous  reading,  and  it  furnishes  an  inexhaustible  funcl  of 
anecdote,  which  will  be  of  great  service  to  public  speakers,  Sabbath  school 
teachers,  and  others.  Each  verse  or  passage  is  taken  up  in  course,  and  the 
word.-*  and  expressions  clearly  explained;  then  follows  a  brief  synopsis  of  some 
prominent  part  of  the  passage,  with  heads  of  thought  for  a  discourse,  or  for 
retiection;  then  one  or  more  striking  anecdotes  drawn  from  a  variety  ol 
Bourct's,  and  in  the  margin  are  given  Scripture  references  and  extracts  from 
eminent  writers,  some  of  them  brief,  and  others  more  extended.  We  have 
used  some  of  the  volumes  for  years,  and  tind  them  still  a  fund  ot  instructiTS 
spiriiual  reading,  as  well  as  an  asHistance  in  the  study  of  thf  Scripiurpc."— 
N.    1     Oi'terver 


A.  D.  F.  RANDOLPH  &  CO.,  38  West  Twenty-third  St.,  New  York. 


ihc  biblical  iiluotvatot : 


OR, 


Anecdotes,    Similes,    Emblems,    Illustrations,    Expository. 

Scientific,  Geographical,  Historical,  and   Homiletic. 

gathered  from  a  wide   range  of  Home  and 

Foreign  Literature,  on  the  Verses 

of  the  Bible. 


BY 

REV.    JOSEPH    S.    EXELL,   M.A. 


St.  Matthew.     100  pages.     Cloth,  ^2.00.     By  post,  $2.2$. 


ANSON    D.    F.    RANDOLPH    &    COMPANY, 
38  West  Twenty-third  Street,  New  York. 


Spochs    OF"    Church    History. 

Edited  b\  the  Rev.  Mandell  Creighton,  M.A. 


OR  THE 

SPIRITUAL   EXPANSIOxM   OF   ENGLAND. 


BY  THE 

REV.     H.    W.    TUCKER,     M.A., 

PREBENDARY   OF   ST.    PAUL'S. 


Fcp.  8vo,  Post-paid, 80  Cents. 


From  the  Church  Press,  yu/y  3,  i885. 

"The  author's  aim  has  been,  not  only  to  set  forth  the  missionary 
work  of  the  Anglican  communion,  but  also  to  recognize  the  noble 
efforts  made  for  the  evangelization  of  the  world  by  all  the  sections 
into  which  Christianity  is  divided,  showing  a  true  spirit  of  catholic- 
ity. It  is  a  narrative  of  work  already  done  and  of  success  already 
achieved,  and  it  is  an  incitement  and  stimulus  to  further  zeal  and 

effort." 

ANSON  D.  F.  RANDOLPH  &   COMPANY, 

38    IVest  Iwenty-third  St.,  Neiv  York, 
For  80  cents  sent  post-paid. 


Erochs    ok    Ci-iuf>icii     IIisxory. 

Edited  by  the  Rev.  Mandell  Ckeighton,  M.A. 


j^i^foi^v  of  tl]^  I^^Pot'rr^^fion  irj  En6l^r^^ 


BY 
GEORGE    G.    PERRY,     M.A., 

CANON    OF    LINCOLN    AND    RFXTOR    OF    WADDINGTON. 

Fcp.  8vo.  Post-paid, 80  Cents. 


From  the  Church  Press,  y^/y  3,  1S86. 
"It  is  a  most  important  subject,  which  by  many  is  but  imper- 
fectly understood,  and  this  Httle  volume  gives  a  clear  and  concise 
account  of  the  religious  and  ecclesiastical  changes  through  which 
the  Church  of  England  passed  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
narrative  is  free  from  bias ;  the  facts  are  succinctly  stated,  and  the 

inferences   and    deductions   from   them   are    logical   and    accurate. 
The  work  cannot   be  read  without   instruction  and   profit,  and  we 

cheerful!)''  commend  it." 

ANSON  D.  F.  RANDOLPH  &  COMPANY. 

38    U'cs/  lu'tniy-tiiuil  S/.,  AWi'  i'l^rk. 
For  80  cents  sent  pobt-paid. 


Date  Due 


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